Time For Change
by Starway Man
Summary: Two of the Scooby Gang leave Sunnydale during junior year, and end up first in Stargate Command – and then elsewhere in the galaxy, before the Goa'uld come to destroy Earth. COMPLETE
1. The Present And The Past Intersect

**Date written**: Thu 15 Apr 2010

**Authors**: Starway Man and Nodakskip

**E-mail: **theop at hotkey dot net dot au and Nodakskip at aol dot com

**Disclaimer**: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, Fox, WB and UPN as they then were. Stargate SG-1, its characters and all related entities are property of Stargate SG-1 Productions (II) Inc., MGM Worldwide Television Productions Inc., Double Secret Productions, Gekko Film Corp and Showtime Networks Inc./the SciFi Channel. Some of the text is from the various TV episodes, and so does not belong to us of course. Anything else you recognize belongs to their various owners.

**Rating**: R to be safe, with mostly PG parts.

**Symbols**: " " indicates speech. ( _italics_ ) indicates thoughts. # # indicates phone or radio voice. / _**bold italics**_ / indicates telepathic communication.

**Feedback**: We'd love to hear what you think! It means to us what linoleum means to Xander...well, almost.

**Warnings**: Some violence, sexual references, bad language and character death is present in this story. There are no spoilers for anything these days, with regard to BtVS and Stargate SG-1; except for those people who haven't seen the show(s), of course.

**Acknowledgments**: Thanks to StargateWiki and Buffyworld for housing the various TV show transcripts, that were used in the writing this story. Thanks also to Greywizard, Mister Mysterious and Memory King for all their suggestions and beta reading services.

**Classification**: Action-Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Crossover, Romance

**Story setting**: BtVS season 2 and Stargate SG-1 season 1.

**Summary**: Two of the Scooby Gang leave Sunnydale during junior year, and end up first in Stargate Command – and then elsewhere in the galaxy, before the Goa'uld come to destroy Earth.

**Title**: Time For Change

* * *

"Oh yeah, baby. It's snake-a-licious in here."

(Xander Harris, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)

"I will tell you this. Your journey's just beginning."

(Cassandra Fraiser, STARGATE SG-1)

"Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."

(William Jennings Bryan, 1899)

* * *

**Chapter One: The Present And The Past Intersect  
**

**The planet Chulak, over two thousand light-years from Earth**

**June 19th, 1928  
**

Chulak. An alien world with two suns, which had long been enslaved by the Goa'uld.

The Goa'uld were a snake-like, parasitic life-form that had first made their way out into the cosmos over ten thousand years ago, eventually taking human hosts and enslaving entire worlds, until they had gained rule over most of the planets in the Milky Way galaxy. For a great portion of that time, they had done so mostly unopposed.

That was especially true of the System Lords, the highest-ranking and most powerful Goa'uld of them all.

There was much that the people of Earth – or the Tau'ri, as the aliens called them – would know about the Goa'uld one day, including the existence of a small rebel group called the Tok'ra. In time, they would know that those members of the Goa'uld species were diametrically opposed to their evil counterparts in terms of philosophy and living in a true symbiosis with their hosts.

But here and now, that time was still a long way off.

Within a dark, fire-lit room that was the equivalent of a royal court on Earth, a man and a woman were on their knees before the Goa'uld known as Apophis. The System Lord once known on Earth as the serpent god, the lord of night, stared down at the captives which had been brought before him.

"Tok'ra," Apophis spat out the word as if it was a contemptible curse, his host's voice having an unmistakeably alien reverberating sound to it. "You will tell me your names! Speak!"

"I am Lantesh, offspring of Egeria," the male symbiote replied, who inhabited the man known as Martouf.

"And I am Jolinar of Malkshur, former underlord to Cronus," the female one added; her host was the blonde woman known as Rosha.

"CRONUS?!" Apophis yelled, before starting to curse angrily in Goa'uld at his sworn enemy.

"We await your decree, my pharaoh." A look from his queen Amaunet eventually silenced Apophis' tirade.

"What are your orders, Lord Apophis?" the First Prime named Bra'tac asked, pointing his staff weapon at the two prisoners.

"Kill them – no, wait. I have a more fitting fate in mind," Apophis said, calming down and deciding to take a leaf out of Ra's book. "Fetch a pair of canopic jars, and strip these two of their hosts. They will be banished into oblivion forever, and never know the mercy of their god's forgiveness in the afterlife!"

Lantesh swivelled Martouf's head to face his beloved, the person who would have been his mate for another seventy years under different circumstances. "Jolinar, tal mah veriunte shree," he said, which meant 'our love does not end in death'.

"SILENCE!" Apophis roared angrily. He gestured, and then quite a number of things took place.

One, Martouf and Rosha were strapped to a pair of evil-looking machines by Bra'tac and his Jaffa underlings.

Two, their symbiotes were forcibly extracted as the hosts' heads were pierced by long thick needles – and both Lantesh and Jolinar were sucked into containers containing a powerful sedative.

Three, both humans died as Martouf and Rosha started leaking their brains out of their ears.

Four, Apophis personally threw the canopic jars into the local Stargate after dialing an arbitrary address, ensuring they would never be found by the Tok'ra.

The address just happened to be that of Earth, whose Stargate had just been uncovered in Giza...

But at that moment, something very unexpected happened.

The wormhole between worlds intersected with the magnetic field of a solar flare, and that caused the two jars to be shifted temporally as well as spatially. Whether it was a coincidence or the work of a higher power, the canopic jars went back in time to the days of ancient Egypt – when Ra still ruled the planet, circa 3000 BC.

After emerging from the Stargate and being found by one of Ra's Jaffa, the jars were buried in a pyramid and then forgotten when the Tau'ri rebelled against the Goa'uld oppression and buried their Stargate – and Ra abandoned his former throne world.

Thousands of years later, the canopic jars were found, and eventually wound up in a museum...

...in a place called Sunnydale.

* * *

**The Sunnydale Museum of Natural History, Sunnydale, California**

**November 19th, 1997  
**

It was a Tuesday, and so, almost by definition, something weird and wacky had to happen in this town built upon the mouth of Hell.

As said, the canopic jars had been delivered to the Sunnydale Museum of Natural History. Before putting them out on display, the curator had thought to himself that they appeared unusual. There were the standard Egyptian hieroglyphs, of course, but there were also a second set of markings; symbols of some kind that he had been completely unfamiliar with.

The museum curator had no idea that the mysterious symbols were Goa'uld words that read 'hako kra terak shree'; which when translated into English read, 'banished to oblivion'. But then, it was practically impossible for him to have known that; almost all traces of the Goa'uld had been wiped out since the days of ancient Egypt, including their language, and nowadays, the public and even the general scientific community thought that the false gods were nothing more than myths and legends.

At that moment, the main area of the museum was invaded – first by a couple of vampires, and then by four teenagers known as Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase. The blonde Slayer was chasing the vampires and her Slayerettes were loyally following after her, with the cheerleader bringing up the rear.

Changing tactics, the undead stopped and turned around to fight. One of the vamps grabbed Xander and threw him at Buffy as a diversion. It worked for a moment, before Harris was shoved aside and he careened into Willow, taking the young woman out of the equation as well.

"I just HAD to ditch my sheep at the Bronze tonight," Cordelia muttered angrily, that was why she was here – well, that and the vampires had attempted to kidnap her as a sacrificial offering to be held at the museum. Cordy then ducked as the other vampire grabbed one of the canopic jars and hurled it at the Sunnydale High beauty queen. The jar smashed apart as it hit the wall and, unnoticed by everyone, the Tok'ra trapped within was released from the stasis fluid keeping it sedated.

Jolinar immediately and instinctively sought a human host; and since Cordelia was the closest person, the extraterrestrial creature leaped toward the back of her neck, burrowing its way inside her as the young woman's eyes glowed yellow-white for a moment.

( _NO!!!_ ) Cordelia screamed, as her body was taken over by the alien rebel.

/ _**Please be quiet,**_ / Jolinar informed the Chase girl, the symbiote speaking silently within her host's mind even as she adapted to Cordelia's knowledge of English in order to soothe her fears with something more familiar. / _**I'm sorry if this is causing you distress, but for now I have to do this. Just don't fight me-**_ /

/ _**The hell I won't!**_ / Cordy fired back, and then she mentally screamed as Jolinar inflicted momentary pain deep within her brain.

/ _**My apologies for that, but you left me with no other choice in order for you to understand the situation,**_ / Jolinar told the dark-haired cheerleader. / _**Please, I promise you I won't be here for any extended length of time; only as long as it takes for Lantesh and myself to return home. I mean you no harm, and I promise I will not hurt you that way again unless you force me to do so. All right?**_ /

/ _**You really mean that?**_ / Cordelia asked fearfully and suspiciously, hating to feel such a lack of control but unable to see any way around it for now. / _**And who are you? Not to mention, who's Lantesh?**_ /

/ _**I am Jolinar of Malkshur, and Lantesh is my mate. We are both members of the species known as the Tok'ra,**_ / the symbiote replied. / _**But in order for you to understand everything in complete detail, we must blend fully. The Tok'ra do not take unwilling hosts, except in dire emergencies such as this one – so out of respect for your mental privacy, I have shielded myself from your mind as much as I can. But if you choose for me to fully open myself up to you, then there will be no secrets between us any longer. All that I know you will know, and vice versa.**_ /

Cordelia remained silent after hearing that. Jolinar looked around less than five seconds after the mental conversation had begun, and she saw Willow and Xander get up off the floor as Buffy managed to finish off the two vampires.

/ _**So. Your friend there is a Vampire Slayer,**_ / Jolinar said, as she knew who and what the Chosen crowd were. The Tok'ra came with built-in genetic memory like the Goa'uld, and Jolinar's progenitor had been on Earth long enough to know all about the demon and vampire population. / _**Tell me, do you trust her?**_ /

/ _**Well, kinda sorta,**_ / Cordelia admitted unwillingly. / _**I mean ever since Buffy Summers rode her ass into town, my life has been full of non-stop demon and vampire crap; but likewise, if it wasn't for her, then I'd have been killed at least two or three times by now. So yeah, I guess I trust her, but I sure as hell don't like her!**_ /

Jolinar then turned her attention to Xander, who briefly glanced Cordelia's way to make sure she was okay. / _**Who is this? **_/

/ _**Xander? Uh, he's no one important,**_ / Cordelia replied a bit too quickly.

/ _**He feels...pleasing to you,**_ / the female Tok'ra contemplated Harris carefully.

/ _**What? NOOOO!!!**_ / Cordelia semi-screamed in denial, even though she'd started making out with Xander just a few days ago; the day they'd ended up being trapped in Buffy's basement by a bug-man assassin working for an organization called the Order of Taraka. / _**Xander and I don't even like each other, so where in the hell did you get a crazy lame-ass idea like THAT?**_ /

/ _**I may have shielded myself from your thoughts, but I can still feel what your body feels,**_ / Jolinar replied as Buffy and the rest of her friends decided to run for it, in order to avoid Rusty the security guard. Hurrying after the so-called Scooby Gang, Jolinar added, / _**Your skin warms whenever you look at him. Your heart rate increases, and your pupils dilate as well. Thus, you may as well face it – you are physically attracted to that male Tau'ri specimen.**_ /

/ _**I am NOT!**_ / Miss Chase denied vehemently and yet also pointlessly. / _**And what the hell is a Tau'ri, anyway? **_/

* * *

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California**

**November 20th, 1997  
**

By the next day, the nightmare of sharing her body with an alien from outer space had abated for Cordelia Chase, at least somewhat.

After the fight with the vampires was over Jolinar had maintained appearances, acting like she was Cordelia in order not to arouse anyone's suspicions. Both host and symbiote had had a long talk at Cordelia's house after parting company with the others – and later, Jolinar had returned to the museum to steal the stasis jar containing Lantesh. Eventually, after Jolinar had talked the female teen into it, Cordelia had called Xander on the phone to meet with her in the library this morning.

"We're going to have to make this quick, or we'll be late for class," Xander told the brunette girl. "So what is it, what's the emergency?"

"Xander...look, I have something kinda weird to tell you," Cordelia began uncertainly. "Weird even by Sunnydale standards, I mean."

"Yeah? What?" Harris demanded.

"I...I...oh God, I can't do this," Miss Chase said, even though Jolinar was pushing her to come clean about everything for this little episode of 'show and tell'. "Jolinar, you do it; I'm sorry, but I just can't force myself to tell the dweeb here what's happened to me!"

"What? Cordy – who are you talking to?" Xander asked in concern, briefly looking around the library in confusion.

"Me," Jolinar said in her reverberating alien voice, startling Xander a lot. "Hello, Xander Harris. I am Jolinar of Malkshur, and it is nice to formally make your acquaintance."

The male teenager instantly backed away. "Who – what ARE you?!"

"She's a Tok'ra, you dork," Cordelia unexpectedly took back control. "And you can relax, she's not evil! She's not a demon or whatever either, believe it or not – she's an alien snake from another planet, who entered my body at the museum last night."

"An alien snake from another planet?!" Xander demanded angrily, certain now that she was playing some sort of trick on him. "That's it, joke's over! I'm outta here-"

"NO, WAIT!" Jolinar shouted as Cordelia's eyes briefly lit up a bright white colour, and Xander quickly became convinced that this was the real deal. "Please, we require your help."

"Uh, my help? What kinda help do you want from me?" Harris asked, trying to edge his way to the door.

"Oh stop squirming, you idiot!" Cordelia said in exasperation. "Ugh! I can't believe you, Xander. You face vampires and demons just about every night, but something like THIS freaks you out? I already told you, Jolinar's not evil! She's just sharing my body for a bit, even though I still find it hard to believe I'm actually saying that. What am I, a time-share resort or something?"

"On the contrary, you are a decent soul helping me in my time of need," Jolinar replied in that echoing, reverberating voice. "For which I sincerely thank you."

"Cordy?" Xander said in confusion. "Are, are you like possessed or something?"

"No, I'm NOT possessed!" Cordelia shouted, even though less than sixteen hours ago she had certainly felt that way. "Why won't you believe me? God, if it had been your precious Buffy or Willow, you'd have believed THEM without question! So why not me?"

"How about all the crap you've put me and Willow through ever since kindergarten?" Xander replied nastily.

"Well, what else did you ever expect from me and my friends? You two were and are both such complete LOSERS!" Cordelia ranted at him.

Jolinar was beginning to get embarrassed as Xander growled angrily, "You know what? Congratulations, I'm now convinced; you're not possessed after all. Because no demon could ever pull off such a realistic BITCH act!"

"OHHH!" Cordelia screamed, automatically giving Xander a vicious slap to the face. Unfortunately, from the force of the physical blow, Harris collided with the table where the canopic jar containing Lantesh was standing; and the top of the jar smashed apart as it hit the ground.

"NO!" Jolinar called out, as recent history repeated itself and the male Tok'ra instinctively flew into Xander's neck in order to survive. "Lantesh?"

There was no reply, as Xander's body became a battleground. Thanks to the possessions by the Primal Hyena spirit and the Soldier Guy back on Halloween, Lantesh had quite a bit of difficulty with integrating into his host's brain and voluntary muscular system. He had never encountered this sort of resistance before.

/ _**Please, do not fight me any longer,**_ / Lantesh thought at Xander, as the human's strength finally began to fade and the symbiote adapted to his host's knowledge of English like Jolinar had done with Cordelia. / _**All I wish is to find the local Chappa'ai and rejoin my people, and afterwards I swear I will leave your body! Unlike the Goa'uld, the Tok'ra co-exist with their hosts willingly!**_ /

/ _**Tok'ra?**_ / Xander asked suspiciously. / _**Are you – you're like that thing inside Cordelia? Jolly-whatever?**_ /

/ _**I am Lantesh, and what are you...**_ / The symbiote then figured out who Xander was referring to and exulted in pure joy that Jolinar was here as well, finally able to sense her presence within Cordelia.

"JOLINAR! You're safe," Lantesh said excitedly using Xander's mouth. Having complete control of the body by now, he rushed forward and passionately kissed his mate, completely uncaring of his host's reaction or the fact that Cordelia wasn't exactly happy about this either.

That is, until the kisses grew more and more intense and all those teenage hormones started up, at which point Xander and Cordelia decided to just go with the flow and willingly joined in on the fun.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Willow's astonished and horrified voice distracted both the Tok'ra and their human hosts, as they broke off to see Buffy, Giles, and Willow's slack-jawed faces at the entrance to the library.

* * *

**Somewhere in pre-Mayan Mexico**

**The previous day  
**

"Come on, now, push! PUSH!"

The male voice was heard outside the burial chamber, as a piece of stone fell to the ground deep within the Mayan pyramid. Flashlight beams then appeared in the darkness, as two archaeologists climbed through the hole and walked down a series of stone steps.

"Would you look at this! Many of us suspected there was another chamber, but the Mexican government wouldn't let us dig the compartment...'til now," one of the archaeologists said as he looked around in wonder.

The flashlight beams fell on a large golden shape, the only thing in the chamber. "What's this?" the other archaeologist asked. "It looks like a sarcophagus of some sort."

"That's almost unheard of for Mayan temples," the first archaeologist said as he pulled out a brush. "Look for glyphs, pictographs. Something to give us a hint as to who might be inside." After he brushed away the dust, the sarcophagus was revealed to contain very familiar inscriptions and pictures. "Hieroglyphics?"

"My God, they're Egyptian! But that doesn't make any sense, Egyptian hieroglyphics in a Mayan temple?" the second archaeologist asked in amazement, brushing away more of the dust.

"I read a journal article once by a young archaeologist – what was his name again? Uh, Dr. Jackson, yes, Dr. Daniel Jackson. He had some ideas about a connection between the various ancient civilizations," the first archaeologist recalled vaguely.

"Well, maybe he was onto something – because I recognize one of these pictographs. It's the symbol for the Egyptian goddess Hathor." The second archaeologist began brushing off more dust, revealing a glowing red stone on the top of the sarcophagus.

Full of curiosity, his colleague placed his palm on the stone, and it twisted around of its own accord. There was a grinding sound, and the top of the sarcophagus shifted position. Slowly the top slid apart, and a perfectly manicured hand reached out; then a beautiful red-haired woman wearing an Egyptian headdress sat up, her eyes examining the intruders.

Hathor said in a deep Goa'uld voice, "Where is Ra?"

One of the archaeologists managed to get over the shock enough to say, "Uh, I...I assume you mean the Egyptian sun god, Ra?"

Hathor looked displeased. "You are not Goa'uld." She raised her hand, revealing a ribbon-like hand device on her palm. A yellow-orange beam shot out of the device, and the two archaeologists briefly screamed in pain before they knew nothing more – ever again.

TBC...


	2. Historic Meetings

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and sent feedback so far, 'tis truly appreciated! Well, here's the next part of the story; we hope you'll like it. There isn't much mention of the Sunnydale gang in this chapter, granted, but don't worry, the next chapter will be a lot more Hellmouth-oriented! Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Historic Meetings**

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado **

**November 22nd, 1997**

Daniel Jackson leaned back in his office chair as he concentrated in thought.

For a long time the linguist-slash-archaeologist had been considered a complete crank and a laughing stock in his chosen field, because of his dogged refusal to admit that he'd been wrong and everyone else had been right about who had built the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Vindication had finally come his way, though, when he'd become part of a top-secret U.S. military project; one involving how to activate the Stargate previously buried at Giza, so that the American government could instantaneously travel to another world.

A planet called Abydos, where he and the expedition members had finally met the Goa'uld and killed Ra – which, given the feudal society of the false gods, had resulted in Ra's rival, Apophis, greatly increasing his power and influence over his peers in this quadrant of the galaxy.

"Daniel? Are you awake there?" a somewhat sarcastic male voice coming from the door to the office said.

"Yeah, Jack," Daniel said to his friend and team leader, Colonel Jack O'Neill. He put away thoughts of his missing wife and brother-in-law and said, "What's up?"

"Been looking for Carter. You seen her lately?" O'Neill asked, referring to his blonde second-in-command, Captain Samantha Carter.

"No," Daniel shrugged. "Maybe she's with Teal'c?"

Jack shook his head, thinking of the tall black man who was a Jaffa and yet was also the fourth member of the unit known as SG-1. "Already checked, he hasn't seen her-"

The klaxon starting to wail and a male voice proclaiming over the loudspeaker, "Intruder alert!" forced the two men to abandon their conversation and run for the control room. Once they arrived there, they found the commanding officer of the facility, Major-General George Hammond.

"What have we got, Sergeant?" the Texan general demanded.

"One moment, sir." Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman checked his console. "General, two as-yet-unidentified people have just been caught trying to break into the complex."

At that moment, Carter showed up as well. "Colonel, what's going on?" Sam asked her team leader.

"That's what I'd like to know," Jack replied. "Walter?"

"Sirs, the intruders..." Harriman's voice trailed off, as he listened to what was coming in via his headset.

"What about 'em?" Jack demanded.

"Uh, Teal'c now has them in custody on Level 28. And – from their voices, it sounds like they're Goa'ulds," Walter said with a frown.

"WHAT? Run a full sweep, Captain," Hammond ordered Sam. "If we're under alien attack and/or surveillance from the surface, I want to know about it ASAP!"

"Yes, sir!" Carter nodded, as she began her assigned task and Hammond, Jack, and Daniel departed from the control room.

* * *

**Prison cell block, Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain **

**November 25th, 1997**

As Xander/Lantesh and Cordelia/Jolinar stared at each other within the prison cell surrounded by red laser beams, they wondered how the hell they had gotten themselves into this mess.

Last week in Sunnydale, the two Tok'ra had had to do some fast talking in order to deal with the not-unexpected "Who are you and what have you done with Xander?!" questioning from Buffy, and Willow's horror over finding her romantic crush kissing her number one social enemy. Oddly, though, once Miss Rosenberg had understood the situation, she had become the strongest believer that Lantesh and Jolinar had meant no harm by taking temporary refuge in the teenagers' bodies, or by giving in to their feelings for one another that way.

It certainly beat thinking that Cordy and Xander had secretly been making out together, after all.

Anyhow, after all the explanations were out of the way Jolinar and Lantesh had headed for Colorado, following a lot of detective work to figure out where the Stargate might be located. Willow's "you can't just leave, you still have school!" protests had basically been ignored, and the alien pair had informed the cute redhead that there were a lot more important things in life than listening to high school teachers droning on about subjects that were boring, at best – and a waste of time, at worst.

Still, once they'd hit the town of Colorado Springs neither of the Tok'ra had expected to end up at Cheyenne Mountain, the home of the U.S. Air Force. It had added an unwelcome complication to an already-complicated situation.

As has already been said, the two aliens had attempted to slip into the underground base. However, they'd failed and been locked up by General Hammond, who'd assumed (quite reasonably, given his limited information) they were Goa'uld of some sort. Once they'd realized that he was a Jaffa defector and no longer the new First Prime of Apophis, Lantesh and Jolinar had tried to convince Teal'c that they were NOT Goa'uld, but it was uncertain how much success they'd had.

"It's been three days, already! How much longer do you think they'll keep us locked up like this?" Cordelia said, pacing in annoyance.

"As long as they want, I'm thinking. They can use that good old 'national security' card," Xander shrugged.

"But that's not fair! We haven't done anything wrong! Well, apart from trying to sneak into this place," Cordy fumed.

"Doesn't matter," Xander decided to sit on the floor. "I figure, unless and until the Tok'ra make formal contact with these people, we're pretty much stuck here for the duration."

"Well, that's just great! I mean, what about Prom?!" Cordelia almost whined.

Lantesh took over and said, "If I may ask, Cordelia, would you mind if I held Jolinar for a while? I've already asked Xander for permission, and he has – reluctantly agreed."

Cordy hesitated, and then just as reluctantly gave her permission as Jolinar joined her mate on the floor. The female Tok'ra said wryly, "Well, this isn't exactly like our trip to the oceans of Marloon, is it?"

Lantesh laughed, holding her in his arms as the symbiote stared into his beloved's eyes. "No. Still, it's better than the fate we faced in the court of Apophis."

Jolinar shook her head. "I still don't understand. How could we have ended up on the Tau'ri homeworld, over two thousand light years across this spiral arm from Chulak?"

"Most likely, we'll never know," Lantesh responded. "Still, it's almost irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. As long as we have each other, that's all that really matters to me."

"Me too," Jolinar smiled.

They leaned forward to kiss, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves before Cordelia abruptly took back control. "Okay, that's enough of THAT! God, can't you two keep your lips off each other for like thirty seconds?"

"What she said," Xander nodded, as he and his female companion got up. "Is it too much to ask for you guys to remember that Cordy and I still have major issues? I swear, whenever I think of her lips on mine – it almost makes me wonder if I've entered the freaking Twilight Zone!"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Are you implying that I'm a lousy kisser or something?" Miss Chase demanded.

"No, it's not that, it's...it's...well, you know what I mean!!" Xander said, looking more than a little flustered.

"No, I don't. Maybe you should just tell me," Cordelia said fiercely. She rather hoped that Jolinar couldn't sense what she was feeling at that moment, as it wasn't exactly pretty.

Just then Carter, Teal'c and a number of female SGC personnel entered the cell block. "We need to speak with you both immediately," the Jaffa said to the prisoners, not wasting time on pleasantries.

"What's up?" Xander asked, glad for the change in subject.

"What do you know about a Goa'uld named Hathor?" Sam asked with a desperate look on her face. Because Hathor had shown up here not long ago, and things were now at the stage where Carter was willing to listen to just about anything the two prisoners had to say.

"Hathor? She's been missing from the ranks of the System Lords for roughly two thousand years, ever since Ra banished her from his court," Lantesh responded to Sam's question. "Why do you ask?"

"She's here on the base. Right now," the base's chief medical officer, Dr. Janet Fraiser, replied. "All the men around here, apart from Teal'c, they've started acting like-"

"-she has them completely enthralled," Jolinar interrupted, nodding her head. "Of course. Before the Tok'ra broke away from the Goa'uld all those centuries ago, it was common knowledge how she could enslave any male Tau'ri at her whim that way. Not to mention that she is a queen Goa'uld, the source of their prim'ta – immature larvae. If left unchecked, Hathor will populate this world with her children, turning it into her own personal stronghold."

"That cannot be allowed to happen," Teal'c stated emotionlessly.

"What else can you tell us about her?" Sam demanded, looking at her watch.

"Well, she'll be a lot easier to take care of if you let us outta here to help you do it," Cordelia spoke up, much to everyone's surprise. "I mean, the way I understand it, the whole symbiote thing would make Xander and me immune to her mind-control mojo, right?"

"If we were truly blended, yes. But since both you and Xander have refused to do that so far, there are no guarantees," Lantesh told her.

"Interesting," Teal'c said contemplatively. "If you truly are Tok'ra, then you are very different to the Goa'uld..."

"We don't have time for this. Besides – we've already got our hands full with one Goa'uld, we don't need the added worry of two others running loose around here," Sam said in irritation.

"Lantesh and I are NOT Goa'uld," Jolinar replied forcefully.

"Yeah, wrinkly old blonde lady, watch your mouth! On account of I don't like what you're insinuating," Miss Chase snarled. "NO ONE is controlling me and Xander, got it? I mean sure, Jolinar and I totally got off on the wrong foot back in Sunnydale, but she's spent enough time in my head by now for me to know whether she's evil or not!" Cordelia finished up passionately.

"Is there any way we can, like, get you to trust us?" Xander asked, staring at the blonde USAF captain after giving Cordelia a resigned look. "Because we really are on your side, Captain, I swear. Maybe if Teal'c here personally kept an eye on us the whole time, and afterwards we return to our cell willingly?"

"WHAT? Oh God, Xander, have you completely lost it? The last thing I want is to stay locked up in here with you! I mean, with your eye-bleeding clothes and your pea-brain sense of humour!" Cordelia complained.

Teal'c turned to Carter and said, "In all my years of service to the false gods, I have never seen any Goa'uld behave this way. That is why I believe these two may very well be who they say they are; and the fact is, CaptainCarter, we are too short-handed to take on Hathor. I would recommend that we do as XanderHarris requests, and at the first sign of treachery, I will slay them both."

"Spoken like a true First Prime of Apophis," Jolinar said sardonically.

"Jolinar, please," Lantesh admonished her. "Well, Captain Carter?"

Sam looked torn. Over the past three days, Xander had appeared somewhat likeable to her – he even SEEMED trustworthy, though she didn't actually trust him. So eventually Carter went with her gut and said, "Fine! I may be completely crazy for doing this, but let them out to help. But they DON'T carry a weapon, and they're your responsibility, Teal'c. If they try anything funny, ANYTHING AT ALL, shoot first and ask questions later. Understood?"

"Indeed," the Jaffa replied, as he opened the cell door.

"Thank you for trusting us," Lantesh said calmly as he exited the jail cell. "And on behalf of the Tok'ra, I promise that we will not forget this."

"Now let's go take care of Hathor," Jolinar nodded.

Thus, it came to pass the group exited the cell block and soon came across a hot tub full of newly spawned Goa'uld larvae. They dragged a mesmerised O'Neill out of there, and to just about everyone's horror discovered that Hathor had somehow turned him into a Jaffa. Luckily, Teal'c suggested they use Hathor's sarcophagus to return him to normal, which took place just before the queen snake destroyed it with her hand device and an explosion ripped throughout the room.

"Hathor, kree lo'tak!" Lantesh shouted, grabbing Teal'c's staff weapon and pointing it at her while the bald Jaffa was still sprawled out on the ground. The Goa'uld phrase meant either 'surrender or die', or 'put down your weapons' depending on the context; and it was pretty clear what the context was in this case.

Hathor's eyes flashed yellowish white. "Who dares threaten us?" the female Goa'uld demanded, using the royal 'we' and gesturing to the airmen under her thrall to hold their fire for now.

"An alliance of the Tau'ri and the Tok'ra, not to mention one Jaffa," Lantesh gestured with his head towards Teal'c, who was staring at him with a frown.

"The Tok'ra?" Hathor suddenly looked furious. "Those traitorous mutant deviates still exist? What is your name, traitor?"

"My name is Lantesh, Hathor, for all the good it will do you." The alien snake used Xander's hands to prime the staff weapon, which buzzed and crackled with electricity.

Suddenly, another explosion shook the base. "What was that?" Jack looked around, wishing that General Hammond was conscious right now and that his superior officer could tell him what to do.

"Jolinar taking care of Hathor's children, I'd say," Xander spoke up with a grin before he turned to the Goa'uld queen. "Face it, your royal snakiness. Your plans to take over our planet have just become unstuck, big-time."

"You will pay for this insolence one day! As the mother of the gods, we swear it, Tok'ra scum!" Hathor instantly whirled around and the enthralled U.S. Air Force men followed her.

Xander willingly gave the staff weapon back to Teal'c. "Thanks for not trying to kill me, by the way. Captain Carter did order you not to let me touch a weapon and all..."

"Not now!" O'Neill still wasn't sure what was going on, or why Sam had unleashed the two captives from their cell. But at the moment the priority had to be Hathor, who was the immediate threat to his base and his planet. "Everyone, after her! Get the tranquilliser rifles, neutralize our compromised troops and take out that damn snakehead!"

Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, Hathor managed to escape via the Stargate to Chulak. And equally unfortunately, Xander/Lantesh and Cordelia/Jolinar followed after her, the female Tok'ra figuring that the military would never again let them out of their jail cell. The Air Force couldn't afford to; even as an information source, they were simply too valuable.

Thus, while Hathor sought out Apophis to request sanctuary and the chance to return to the higher ranks of the Goa'uld, Lantesh and Jolinar left Chulak at once to find the rest of their people; who had given them up for dead decades ago.

* * *

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado **

**A while later**

General Hammond looked around the conference room before he looked at Carter and said, "All right, let's go over it again. WHY did you let those two out of their cell?"

"It...sort of seemed like a good idea at the time, sir," Sam said feebly, fidgeting in her chair.

"I wish to take personal responsibility for what has happened, GeneralHammond," Teal'c said stoically. "CaptainCarter charged me with the responsibility of monitoring the two Tok'ra, but I failed to prevent them from leaving through the Chappa'ai. I stand ready for whatever punishment you deem necessary to inflict upon me for my failure."

General Hammond rubbed his eyes wearily; he still found it difficult to believe how he and his base had essentially been enslaved by a single Goa'uld – and a female one, at that. He glanced at O'Neill and said, "Colonel, do you have anything to say?"

"Not really, sir," Jack shrugged. "Apart from the fact that I got a look at the male snake's face just before he went through the Gate, and I could have sworn that he actually looked apologetic before following his girlfriend to Chulak. Maybe it was just an act, but if it was – what would be the point of doing something like that?"

"Well, assuming for the sake of argument that their story was true, try to look at it from their perspective," Daniel spoke up. "Those two were captives here, looking for any chance to escape and return to their own kind. Would we have done anything different in their shoes?"

"Lantesh, or Xander Harris, or whatever you want to call him, he gave me his word that those two would return to their cell once Hathor was taken care of," Sam told him. "Lies like that – not the best way to try to build up trust."

"What do we know about the hosts, by the way? Because whether their story about being the enemy of our enemy is true or not, fact remains – those two snakes have kidnapped a couple of teenage kids," O'Neill pointed out.

"Alexander Lavelle Harris," Daniel consulted some papers. "Born December 12th, 1980 in the town of Sunnydale, California. He's more or less a typical high school student." He looked up and added, "We don't have too much on him right now, apart from his grades and picture from the latest edition of the Sunnydale High yearbook."

"And the girl?" Hammond demanded.

"Cordelia Rose Chase," Sam looked down at her own sheets. "Born January 9th, 1981. She and Harris grew up together; they've attended the same kindergarten, elementary school, junior high and high school, according to public record. Oh, and her parents are amongst the richest people in southern California, apparently. That could conceivably cause problems for us, if Mr. and Mrs. Chase start making the wrong sort of inquiries regarding their daughter," Carter said apologetically.

George felt the ulcer starting to form in his stomach grow worse. "What else do we know?"

The klaxon signalling the arrival of an incoming wormhole and Sergeant Walter Harriman's voice proclaiming over the loudspeaker, "Unscheduled off-world activation!" made the group put their meeting on hold, and head for the control room.

Once they'd arrived, Harriman reported, "General, there's no IDC; but we have a radio transmission coming through the wormhole. Whoever it is says that he wants to speak with either you or SG-1."

"Put it on speaker." After Walter had done so Hammond said, "This is General George Hammond, who am I talking to?"

#Uh, hi General. It's me, Xander Harris,# the young man's voice was clear enough to be recognizable, despite the transmission distortion.

Jack immediately stepped up and said, "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill, you no-good lying snakehead! You PROMISED Carter that you'd return to your cell once the excitement was over, and then what do you do? Skedaddle while the going's good?"

#You have my most sincere apologies regarding that,# Lantesh's alien voice now came through the speaker. #I hereby accept full responsibility for convincing my host to break the vow he made to your Captain Carter.#

#Yeah, I, uh, I was actually intending to keep that promise, believe it or not; but Lantesh and I couldn't leave Jolinar and Cordy out there all alone, once they decided to go through the Chappa'ai. And it's a good thing we came along for the ride, actually, as Apophis' Jaffa woulda captured our girls after Hathor came through and encountered the local priests so darn quickly,# Xander's voice then said.

"What is the situation regarding Hathor, XanderHarris?" Teal'c spoke up.

#Uh, our best guess is Apophis has her, so she's either his guest or his prisoner. I mean, we didn't exactly stick around long enough to find out, the last thing Lantesh and Jolinar wanted was to encounter HIM again!# Xander's voice was suddenly full of loathing.

"Where are you and Miss Chase currently located, Mr. Harris?" Carter suddenly demanded. There was definitely a note of anger in her voice, and it was obvious that Sam had yet to do the old 'forgive and forget' routine.

#Right now, we're on a planet whose name doesn't really matter as we're just gonna be here long enough to deliver this message. As for where the Tok'ra base is, sorry – but I've been asked not to reveal that information to you people,# Xander said in obvious embarrassment. #See, the Tok'ra know about you guys at Stargate Command now, but they don't exactly trust you yet. Thing is that, when I mentioned the idea of a formal alliance? They initially assumed that meant the people of Earth wanted to become hosts for the symbiotes.#

"Assuming that all this isn't just a pile of horse hockey, did you manage to set them straight about that?" Hammond's voice was full of disapproval.

#Yeah, yeah I did,# Xander responded. #Look, General, I know my credibility is pretty much zero right now, but the truth is the Tok'ra aren't the bad guys you're assuming they are. They know that Cordy and I didn't ask for any of this, so as soon as a couple of willing new hosts are found – Lantesh and Jolinar are gonna leave our bodies, in order for us to come home.#

"Really?" Daniel finally spoke up.

#Yeah, really, Dr. Jackson.#

"I'd like to speak with Miss Chase now, Mr. Harris. Can you put her on?" Hammond requested.

#This is Cordelia,# the female teen's voice was heard in the control room a few moments later. #You people wanted to talk to me?#

"That's right. Mr. Harris has just told us a number of interesting things, Miss Chase, and I wanted to see if you concur with everything he's said. So, do you?" George asked.

#Oh, please, mister, do you think I'm a retard or something? You don't believe for a second that Xander and I aren't being controlled by Lantesh and Jolinar, that we aren't being forced to tell you whatever it is they want to tell you,# Cordy's voice said bitingly. #I figure all you wanted to check was whether or not I was still alive, right?#

"You and Xander Harris are United States citizens, Miss Chase, not to mention underage teenagers. It's my job to see to your safety," Hammond responded with a poker face. He did not directly answer the question, which was instantly picked up on the other side of the Stargate.

#This is Jolinar, General Hammond. For whatever it is worth, I give you my word that neither my host nor that of my mate have been placed in any needless danger,# the female symbiote said over the radio.

"Ma'am, I suspect that our definitions of 'needless' might differ dramatically," George replied, his Texan accent thickening somewhat.

#Yeah, I'm sure,# Cordelia said with a snort. #You just want to lock me up again in that cramped and smelly prison cell of yours! I swear, being stuck in that place must have given my hair dozens of split ends. And it's not as if the Tok'ra have any shampoos or rinses for me to use after a decent shower, y'know. How the heck am I supposed to exfoliate properly with nothing but that alien crap they've got back on their base, I ask you?#

"Miss Chase, uh, if we could put all that aside for the moment? You have to admit that you and Xander Harris leaving Earth that way, it's bound to cause problems – and not just for us," Daniel said reasonably. "Your presence will be missed, both at home and at school if nowhere else."

#You really think so? Because Xander's parents are the town drunks, and mine are always away in places like Curacao or Catalina,# the female teenager's voice said scornfully. #And as if anyone at Sunnydale High would remember either of us after a week had passed! Well, apart from Giles, Buffy, and Willow of course. Maybe Angel too, I don't know, but either way he doesn't really matter-#

"Who are these people you're talking about?" Jack interrupted, before Cordelia could say that Angel was irrelevant due to him being a mope-y vampire.

#Xander! Get your butt over here and tell these people about your collection of tweak-o friends, 'cause I'm sure as hell not going to do it!# Cordy's voice could be heard with a great deal of annoyance in it.

#Uh, it's Xander here. Cordy just mentioned something about my buds?# Harris asked.

"Yeah. What's the situation there?" Sam demanded.

#Oh, right – uh, sorry I didn't mention this before, but thing is Buffy, Willow and Giles know all about Lantesh and Jolinar,# Xander said over the radio. #Cordy and I told them everything before we left town. Including everything we knew about the Goa'uld and the Tok'ra.#

"YOU DID WHAT?" Hammond roared angrily, finally letting himself become a true believer. The conversation of the last few minutes had pretty much passed the point of being some sort of bizarre alien trick, and too much of what he'd heard had been pointless from the point of view of trying to spread disinformation.

#Sorry if you're upset about that, General, but in our defence we had to tell them something – and hey, even though the gang knows we came to Colorado, we didn't tell anyone about Stargate Command, on account of we didn't know anything about you guys at the time. No, wait – Giles has to know something about that part of it, 'cause Cordy and me phoned him just before we tried to break into Cheyenne Mountain. And I betcha the girls would know whatever he does by now,# Xander replied. #So I guess Buffy and Willow might be – hey, what was that?#

There were various noises heard over the comm. channel, loud voices and then frantic shouts – before the transmission ceased, and the Stargate shut down with its normal whooshing sound.

"What has happened?" Teal'c asked, looking at Harriman.

"I'm not sure," Walter replied, checking his console. "They definitely shut down the transmission from their end, for some reason. Maybe they suddenly came under attack?"

"Either way, we have other priorities," Hammond decided as he turned to face SG-1. "We have to assume that this base might be compromised. Colonel, I want you and your team to go to Sunnydale, and find these individuals Mr. Harris just mentioned. Make sure they haven't said anything to the wrong people."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "It is my understanding that the citizens of your world would not believe in the existence of aliens without substantial proof. Are we then perhaps not worrying unnecessarily? Assuming that our information is correct – apart from the canopic jars within which the two Tok'ra were imprisoned, there is no evidence of alien technology to back up any sensational claims the friends of XanderHarris and CordeliaChase might make. The jars themselves would not be enough to convince the sceptics, I take it?"

"No, probably not," Daniel shook his head. "Yeah, I think Teal'c's right – we might very well be making a mountain out of a molehill with regard to all this. Well, as long as they were telling us the truth, of course, and both hosts eventually come back safe and sound."

"At the moment, Dr. Jackson, we can't afford to simply hope for the best," Hammond said sharply. "Anyway, you have your orders. Dismissed, people."

TBC...


	3. Historic Meetings Part Deux

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. Thanks as always to everyone who has reviewed and sent feedback! Please, keep it coming. Anyway, on with the story...

* * *

**Chapter Three: Historic Meetings Part Deux**

**Main Street, Sunnydale, California**

**November 26th, 1997**

"Okay, we're here. Someone wanna tell me what the plan is?" Daniel asked as the van containing SG-1 came to a stop in the Espresso Pump parking lot.

"We split up, talk to the people Harris mentioned yesterday," Jack replied. "Everyone's got their names and addresses?" His team-mates nodded. "Okay, let's move out." With that, he got out of the van after checking Buffy's address; then the four members of SG-1 split up and went their separate ways.

A bit later O'Neill examined the blonde girl from his position across the street, comparing the stereotypical southern California female to the photo Sam had given him before approaching her. ( _Hmm. Definitely looks like she's the person I'm after._ ) "Excuse me, Miss Summers? Buffy Summers?"

Buffy turned around, and then instantly tensed up; on gut instinct, she knew this guy would be trouble of some sort. "Yeah, that's me. Who are you?"

"My name's Colonel Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force." The military officer felt rather uncomfortable in the presence of the Slayer for some reason, even though he didn't know why. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about a mutual acquaintance named Alexander Harris?"

"What? You've seen Xander!? Is he all right? Where is he?" Buffy demanded. She had been very worried about her best male friend, ever since he and Cordelia had disappeared four days ago – right after they'd indicated they were trying to break into some restricted military base.

Jack replied, "Yeah, that's the thing, I'd like to ask you-"

"Where is he?" Buffy suddenly looked at O'Neill with undisguised suspicion. "And why's an Air Force colonel interested in one of my friends?"

"Well, see, we met a few days ago-"

"Where is he?" Buffy asked for the third time. "PLEASE, tell me where he is!"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that. It's not up to me to reveal that information."

That made the Chosen One a bit nervous. "Then who is?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that either. Look, if you could just tell me-"

Buffy decided to end the interview right then and there, she knew that there was nothing she could do to get the information she wanted without resorting to Slayer strength; and that would mean blowing her secret identity in a big way. "Excuse me, but I have someone I need to talk to right now."

"Hey, wait up!" But the blonde girl seemingly paid him no attention; O'Neill had to watch in surprise and annoyance as Buffy hurried back inside her house.

* * *

**6305 Westminster Place, Sunnydale, California**

**A few minutes later**

"Excuse me, are you Willow Rosenberg?" Sam asked the red-haired female teenager who had just opened the front door.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Willow looked at the older blonde woman in surprise.

"Would you happen to know two people by the name of Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase?"

"Xander and Cordy?" Willow instinctively tensed up. "Yes, I...uh, wait, who are you? And why do you ask?"

"I'm Captain Samantha Carter, U.S. Air Force. And, ah, the reason I'm asking is because I met them a few days ago-"

"What? Where are they?!" Willow yelped the same way Buffy had just done.

A rather one-sided conversation subsequently took place, as Sam wasn't allowed to reveal that information anymore than Jack was. Finally, Willow simply slammed the door in her face when it became obvious the USAF captain wasn't going to give up anything the redhead was looking for.

( _Okay, that was sort of unexpected,_ ) Sam thought to herself with a frown as she left the Rosenberg residence behind. ( _I need to talk to the others about this._ )

* * *

**Apartment B, 523 Oak Park Street, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

"Hello?" a British voice said from within the apartment after Daniel Jackson knocked on the front door.

"Ah, yes, could I possibly have a few minutes of your time please?" The door promptly opened. "Rupert Giles?" The older man in his forties nodded in the affirmative. "Hi, my name's Daniel Jackson-"

"Dr. Daniel Jackson?" Giles interrupted. "Your expertise is ancient languages, yes? I-I-I've heard of you, you once lectured at my old university. You were quite the celebrity in your field, some years after I left Oxford."

Daniel briefly looked surprised, reminded of his long-ago visit to England. "Oh, well...hey, wait a minute, you're THAT Rupert Giles? I've heard of you too; I read your paper on the Sumerians and the militaristic aspects of their culture about five years ago. It was very interesting, even though I thought you gave a bit too much credit to Sir Henry Rawlinson's 19th century theories in some parts of it."

Giles shrugged slightly, not offended in the least. "Yes, well, I also came to the same conclusion myself after some new evidence came to light a while ago." He gestured for Jackson to come in.

"Uh, thank you." Daniel stepped into the apartment, passing the vampire test without even knowing it. "Ah, if I might ask, what do you think of pre-dynastic Egyptian culture and their pantheon of deities?"

* * *

**Main Street, Sunnydale, California**

**Later that day**

"So, what did you learn?" O'Neill asked Carter as she joined him at the rendezvous point.

Sam shrugged, "Not much, sir. I mean, Miss Rosenberg certainly seemed to be very worried about Mr. Harris, maybe a bit too much so for just a missing friend."

Jack nodded his head. "Mine acted the same way. Ah, here comes Teal'c, let's see if he got anything useful from his guy. So what's the story, T?" O'Neill asked as the tall Jaffa joined the other two.

"I was unable to locate anyone by the name of 'Angel'," Teal'c reported.

"Terrific," Jack grumbled. "Okay, Daniel...uh, where's Daniel?"

Sam replied, "He went to talk to Mr. Giles, sir, remember? The dossier on him said that the man's an expert on ancient mythology, in fact he's almost a peer and colleague of Daniel's-"

"WHAT!?" Jack yelled. "Oh, geez it Carter! You let the space monkey go off to talk to someone who's probably just as much of a geek chatterbox as he is? Come on, we're gonna have to go find Daniel ourselves. Otherwise, a month's wages says he won't surface for a whole day, maybe even two."

* * *

**Apartment B, 523 Oak Park Street, Sunnydale**

**Not long after sundown**

Giles and Daniel were completely absorbed in their 'riveting' conversation, when there was a loud knock on the front door. Neither the Englishman nor the American heard it, just as they hadn't noticed Buffy and Willow's phone calls earlier on, and they continued talking for a while longer. Then the door suddenly shook under the impact of a much heavier pounding.

Rupert got up to answer it, and was surprised to find two Air Force officers and a tall black gentleman standing outside his home. "Ah, can I help you?"

"Yeah. Is there a Dr. Jackson in the house?"

"Jack!" Daniel quickly joined the others at the door upon hearing O'Neill's voice. He looked apologetic as he said, "Sorry, I-I guess I sorta lost track of time. See, I've just been discussing ancient Etruscan legends with Rupert here..."

Jack desperately waved his hands to stop the incoming flow of information. "Daniel! I honestly don't want to know, okay?" He turned to Giles, "May we come in?"

Rupert gestured without issuing a direct invitation, and so Jack, Sam and Teal'c entered the condo. The Englishman then said, "May I ask what this is about?"

"First, let us introduce ourselves. I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, this is Captain Samantha Carter, Daniel you've already met – and this is Murray," Jack gestured to Teal'c, using a convenient alias for the Jaffa. "Now, do you know two people named Alexander Lavelle Harris and Cordelia Rose Chase?"

"You – you're holding Xander and Cordelia prisoner, aren't you?" Giles suddenly leapt to conclusions.

"No, we're not," Daniel replied truthfully. "We'd just like some information from you and some other people they mentioned recently-"

At that moment, Buffy and Willow burst into the apartment as Angel followed at a slower pace, the Slayer almost yanking the door off its hinges. "GILES! We so need to talk-" Miss Summers started to say, when she caught sight of the people from Colorado.

"Where's Xander?!" Willow almost shouted the question, before she looked rather embarrassed at her own outburst.

"We don't know," Sam replied, after getting the nod from her commanding officer. "For the moment, we have utterly no idea. So, what can you tell us about someone named 'Angel'?"

"I'm Angel. What's it to you?" the ensouled vampire asked, a flinty look appearing in his eyes. He still wasn't back at one hundred percent after the two vampires named Spike and Drusilla had almost sacrificed him in an unholy ceremony a few weeks ago, but he was much better now than after those first agony-filled days when he'd almost ended up dust.

"Do you know Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Angel replied. "Unfortunately," he then muttered to himself, too low for anyone apart from Buffy to hear him.

"Do you know why they went to Colorado recently?" Jack asked the ensouled vamp.

"Okay, you know what? Someone has to say it, so it may as well be our side," Willow said to SG-1. "You guys, you're here about Lantesh and Jolinar, aren't you? This little visit, it has to do with the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld, right?"

The facial expressions on the members of SG-1 changed immediately. "It seems that XanderHarris did not deceive us with regard to that part of his information," Teal'c said, taking off his cap and letting the Sunnydalians see the golden tattoo on his forehead.

"That mark, I-I've seen it somewhere before..." Giles frowned, trying to recall where. Then he snapped his fingers, "Of course! That's the emblem of Apophis, the ancient Egyptian serpent god, isn't it?"

"You are correct, RupertGiles," Teal'c inclined his head slightly. "He is also a Goa'uld, one of the false gods to whom I once owed my allegiance."

"Amazing," the Watcher said, staring thoughtfully at the black man for a moment before looking around at the others. Last week, everyone had initially been full of disbelief at the idea that aliens were as real as demons and vampires, but now there was corroborative proof of it. Giles then said to Teal'c, "So, so you're not human, are you? You're a – what did those two call it – a Jaffa?"

"Indeed," Teal'c nodded. He lifted his clothes to reveal his X-shaped abdominal pouch – and all the members of Team Slayer grimaced when the slimy prim'ta briefly emerged, before the Jaffa lowered his clothes once more. "And my name is not Murray, it is actually Teal'c."

"Okay, priorities, people! Like, where's Xander? And Cordelia as well, while we're at it?" Buffy demanded.

"All right, fine. When last we saw them, the Tok'ra using them as hosts left Earth to rejoin their people. If they have other hosts available, then those two should be home soon," Daniel replied.

"Oh, thank goodness," Willow almost slumped over with relief.

Giles asked, "So, then, all the things Lantesh and Jolinar mentioned, s-such as the war between the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld – err, that's still going on?"

Jack shrugged, "Yeah, but Earth isn't anywhere near the front lines...we're off in a forgotten little corner of the galaxy."

"And this, this Chappa'ai, it really does exist? It creates a portal to other worlds, across interstellar distance?" Giles suddenly looked as awed as he had the day when the two Tok'ra had told him about that.

"We call it the Stargate, but yeah," Daniel nodded.

"Uh, people? Before we get into that any further, we need to know who else knows about all this. Please," Jack said politely, glancing in Buffy's direction.

"No one, a-apart from those of us here in this room," Giles gestured to himself, Angel and the two female teens.

"Good. All right, I'd say that once all of you have signed our nondisclosure agreement forms, then we can get out of your hair," Jack said in satisfaction.

"I'm not a member of the Army," Buffy said, ignoring Jack's immediate correction about his branch of the military, "and I don't plan on joining the Army either." She glared when O'Neill opened his mouth to correct her again, continuing before he could speak.

"Xander and Cordelia aren't in the ARMY either," Buffy told him, narrowing her eyes as she childishly emphasized the name. "They learned about this stuff from those Toker Ha thingies, and told us. They never had anything to do with your little secret 'club'," the Slayer continued, making air quotes and rolling her eyes as if a secret government program was nothing more than a few kids playing pretend in their parents' basement. "So I'm not signing anything, and you can be darn sure that I'll tell whoever I want to tell about this!"

Miss Summers frowned then, as she came to a sudden realization. "I need some more friends...'cause I don't have anyone to tell, do I?" She then glared at a smirking Jack. "Yet!"

Giles exhaled irritably. Diplomacy was obviously lost on his charge, as yet. "Be that as it may," he told Buffy with a long-suffering look, before turning back to the newcomers, "Buffy is underage, as is Willow. The, err, legal issue is somewhat murky without directly involving their parents, who know nothing about this."

"And there's no point in me signing anything, because I don't officially exist," Angel spoke up.

"Oh, but it's okay! He's not gonna tell anyone the big secret, 'cause Angel's a vampire," Willow said reassuringly.

"An urkek'taur?" Teal'c demanded immediately, his normally-impassive face actually showing emotion for once as he glared at Angel.

"A what now?" Jack looked confused, ignoring the whole 'vampire' thing for the moment – as he was sure he must have misheard Willow, or it was some teenage slang term he didn't understand, or something.

"Kek – that translates to, uh, 'weak', doesn't it?" Jackson turned to Teal'c for clarification.

"Or 'dead'. For a Jaffa, there is no difference in meaning," Teal'c stated emotionlessly, having gotten himself back under control by now.

"So urkek'taur...that means 'not-dead' or, or 'un-dead' human?" Daniel asked in surprise.

"What?" Sam had a disbelieving look on her face, which had been present ever since she'd heard the word 'vampire'.

"Yes. And according to the stories I have heard from descendants of the Jaffa who once served Ra on this planet, the urkek'taur are evil, sadistic creatures who like nothing more than to kill and drain their victims of blood," Teal'c replied, still engaged in a staring contest with Angel.

"Well, Angel's different! He's got a soul," Buffy defended her beloved angrily.

As Jack and Sam stared at each other, Daniel cocked his head slightly. "You're a vampire with a soul? As in, an Anne Rice type of vampire?" he asked Angel curiously.

"Ugh, please! You wouldn't believe how many undead fanboys I've met over the past two years who've called themselves Lestat," Buffy groaned.

"I'm sorry, but are we actually having a serious conversation with vampires in it?" Sam demanded. "I mean, this is ridiculous! There's no such thing as vampires!"

"Show her," the Chosen One told her boyfriend, prompting Angel to go into his demon face.

"WHOA!!" Jack jumped back, automatically reaching for a handgun. He suddenly decided that maybe all this wasn't a joke or whatever after all. "Daniel?"

"This is incredible," Daniel breathed, drinking in the sight. "The yellow eyes, the fangs, the ridged forehead – all exactly like the ancient texts describe...you really are a vampire, aren't you?"

"Yeah. And I'm the Slayer," Buffy decided to confess that part as well, much to the chagrin of her Watcher.

"The what?" Sam asked in confusion, still reeling from the sight of the demonic visage in front of her. She looked over at Teal'c, who was still poised to slay the vampire before him at the slightest provocation. The Jaffa couldn't help it; his kind and the walking dead were natural enemies.

"Slayer, comma, the," Miss Summers said impatiently in reply to Sam's question. "She who hangs out in cemeteries a lot, fighting all the evil things that go bump in the night?"

"What?" Jack demanded.

"I believe, O'Neill, that RupertGiles would be the best person to direct such questions to," Teal'c told him. "He is to these people what DanielJackson is to us."

"Uh, thanks Teal'c," Daniel said, staring at the Jaffa. "I think..."

"Yeah, go ahead Giles. We all know how much you love doing this part," Buffy said with a small grin.

"Yes, thank you, Buffy," the Watcher sent her a frosty stare before refocusing on SG-1. "Um, very well. A-a-according to the books available to us, over fifty thousand years ago the last pure demon to leave this reality fed off a human, and mixed its blood with his. He became a human form possessed by the demon, the first vampire – which according to some legends was called a Turok-Han. Anyway, he-he bit one victim and then another and another, spreading the plague far and wide; so now the vampires walk the Earth, feeding...killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out and the Old Ones to return."

"Animals? Old Ones?" Daniel asked with an air of intellectual fascination.

Giles started to polish his glasses. "This world is a lot older than I suspect you and your friends know, Dr. Jackson. A-and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, demons held dominion over the Earth. They made it their home, their...their Hell. But in time, they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, o-or in other words – mankind. All that remains nowadays of the original pure demons called the Old Ones are vestiges; certain creatures, certain magicks-"

"Demons? Magic?" Sam demanded in disbelief. She just couldn't accept anything of what she was hearing from this man; it totally flew in the face of everything she believed in.

"Xander and Cordy didn't tell you guys about that?" Willow asked in surprise. She then did a new trick she had learned lately from one of the books Giles had forbidden her to examine yet, levitating a pencil and making it rotate in the air.

"How the-?" Carter just gaped as she watched the show. The woman then automatically looked around to see if there was any advanced technology present to account for this display – but there was nothing Sam could see that could be doing this. "That's, that's not possible! It's a violation of every scientific law that I know of!"

"Magic isn't a science, Captain Carter," Giles spoke up with a slight frown in Willow's direction at her eager demonstration of how she'd disregarded his quite specific instructions. "It's something where scientific laws simply don't apply, you see – it's a-a-a phenomenon with its own rules regarding cause and effect. H-how else do you think humans ever managed to, to drive the Old Ones out of this reality in the first place?"

"Okay, so you wanna run this 'Slayer' thing past me again?" O'Neill said to the Scoobies, deciding to change the subject.

"For as long as there have been vampires, there's also been the Slayer. In every generation, there is one girl in all the world with the strength and skill to fight them, a-a Chosen One selected by the higher powers to, to stop the spread of their evil," Giles lectured the SG-1 team.

"Namely, little old me," Buffy said with another small grin.

"You?" Jack asked automatically.

"Higher powers?" Teal'c asked, while Sam just shook her head again.

Everyone started speaking at the same time, and it quickly became impossible to get a word in edgeways. It was almost as bad as Sunnydale High's model U.N., at least in some respects. Eventually O'Neill shared a look with Carter, before he let out a piercing whistle in order to put an end to it.

"Everyone, be quiet!" Jack ordered the two groups in his best command voice. "We're getting off-topic here."

"Yes, uh, what was the topic again? I, I have to admit, I've rather lost track..." Giles trailed off.

"Xander and Cordy," Willow said emphatically. "And when they're going to come home, already!"

Little did Willow know, that that day would not arrive as quickly as she would have either hoped or liked.

* * *

**The planet eventually known as P34-353J, many thousands of light-years from Earth**

**The same time**

The Tok'ra were in a huge rush to evacuate their base on this world, before the forces of Apophis located them.

It had all started with a meeting Xander and Cordelia had attended with the Tok'ra High Council; the symbiotes known as Garshaw, Selmak, Delek, Per'sus, Ren'al, and last but not least, Cordesh. During that meeting, Cordesh had been unmasked as a Goa'uld spy, thanks to some snooping by Cordelia and Jolinar; they had found a small ball-like device within the Councillor's quarters.

Something that none of the Tok'ra were supposed to have, as the long-range visual communications system was not secure from detection by the Goa'uld. Thus, the meeting had quickly broken up as a furiously cursing Cordesh was dragged away to his richly deserved fate.

"Jolinar! We must hurry," the female host for Selmak named Saroosh said as she joined the younger Tok'ra. "Where is Lantesh?"

"He and Xander are taking care of Cordesh, as far as I know," Jolinar replied, setting a crystal to destroy the tunnel she had just passed through. "Why are you still here? You should have gone through the Chappa'ai with the others before now."

"There are still some on the High Council who are uncomfortable with the fact that neither your host, nor that of your mate, have chosen to fully blend with yourself and Lantesh," Selmak admitted. "I volunteered to stay behind to assuage their concerns."

"How kind of you," Jolinar said sarcastically as they headed for the Stargate. "And perhaps the Council also wants you to search us before we go through the Chappa'ai – merely in the interests of security, of course?"

Both Saroosh and Selmak said nothing, their embarrassment obvious to the queen bee of Sunnydale High and her symbiote. Not long after, they met up with Xander/Lantesh – and after all traces of the Tok'ra base were gone, they all stepped through the Stargate and vanished.

Not long afterwards, Selmak sought out the two teenagers within the newly established base. "I wish to apologize if the Council's actions have caused offence," the old woman said regretfully. "In truth, I suspect that what Lantesh and Jolinar said at the recent meeting holds some merit; the Tok'ra have changed a great deal over the past seventy years."

"Well, that's pretty obvious to everyone within the sighted community," Cordelia said acidly.

"Personally, though, I'd say it doesn't really matter; on account of you people are all doomed anyway," Xander said to Selmak bluntly. "I mean – for over two thousand years you've been running and hiding, ever since that guy Ra started up his blood hunt for you. In all that time, you haven't gotten anywhere trying to come up with a weapon of mass destruction to kill off the bad guys, have you? There hasn't been a single Goa'uld to defect to your side in the last two centuries either, so the System Lords can afford to wait. In the end, all the Tok'ra will be dead – of old age, if nothing else – and without the six billion people of Earth on your side, it'll mean the entire galaxy becoming enslaved. Sooner rather than later."

Saroosh sighed, "If this is about establishing an alliance with the Tau'ri again, then you know perfectly well how the Council believes that they are too primitive to be of any use to us!"

"They could not even prevent Hathor from escaping their custody, is this not so?" Selmak asked.

"Sure, but let's just forget how that Cordesh guy made fools out of everyone around here for God only knows how long! I swear, you people can be arrogant and stupid enough to make my friend Harmony look good by comparison!" Cordelia ranted.

"Cordy..." Xander groaned at her tactlessness. "We've got more important things to worry about right now, okay?"

"Indeed. There is much for all of us to do," Selmak nodded. "I will see you both later." With that, she left.

"What are those people, deficient?!" Cordelia exploded angrily, ignoring Jolinar's requests for her to calm down.

"Cordelia..." Xander started to say.

"Xander, we nearly got killed on that stupid planet whilst we were in contact with the SGC people on Earth, and they initially thought that what happened was OUR fault?"

"Cordelia..."

"Talk about trying to cover up your feelings of inadequacy, already!"

"Cordelia!" Xander said loudly.

"WHAT?"

"You're giving me a headache! So will you PLEASE give it a rest?" Xander demanded.

"MAKE ME!!" the buxom brunette shouted at him, her eyes blazing.

Just like what had happened in Buffy's basement all those weeks ago, their feelings could no longer be trapped within the prison of propriety; so Xander took Cordelia in his arms and started kissing the hell out of her, in order to shut her up.

This time, it was Lantesh and Jolinar who simply shrugged and decided to go with the flow – enjoying themselves immensely, as well as moving their hosts' bodies to somewhere more private for their pleasure not to be interrupted anytime soon.

TBC...


	4. Family Matters

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. Okay, the meetings are over and done with, now it's time to get stuck into the guts of the fanfic! Thanks as always to everyone who's sent reviews and feedback, they truly inspire to keep us going. Now on with the story...

* * *

**Chapter Four: Family Matters**

**The planet Chulak, over two thousand light-years from Earth**

**December 9th, 1997**

While Buffy, Willow, Angel and Giles were busy dealing with the remains of a human-looking yet psychopathic robot named Ted Buchanan in Sunnydale, far across the stars Apophis was torturing his son named Klorel.

Klorel, who inhabited the body of Daniel Jackson's Abydonian brother-in-law named Skaara, had recently tried to usurp his father's place amongst the System Lords. This was hardly unexpected, as the megalomaniacal snakes tried to take advantage of every opportunity to seize power, and the Tok'ra giving Apophis the slip last month had caused him to lose face before his peers.

But this minor twist of fate was now looking more and more like a lethal error of judgement on Klorel's part, as the yellow-orange light from Apophis's hand device bored directly into Skaara's skull.

"We suspect that your offspring is attempting to ask you for forgiveness," Hathor said with a smirk, as she watched the show from off to the side. Over time, she had managed to talk Apophis into releasing her from captivity since arriving here from Earth. "If so, will you grant it?"

"His calak is still unrepentant," Apophis replied, the Goa'uld word meaning the equivalent of 'soul', more or less. "Ha're kree!" he then said angrily to Klorel, ordering him to be silent and cease his whimpering.

"We see that amongst the Goa'uld, a pharaoh's power is still more often challenged by his sons than by his enemies," Hathor said blandly, in that distinctive reverberating voice. "It is indeed unfortunate that our beloved Ra is no longer with us. He would have never tolerated the presence of such a specimen in his court."

Goaded by the female Goa'uld's words, Apophis increased the power on his hand device and liquefied Skaara's brain. Before he realized it, the false god had killed his own son as well as the host. So Apophis quickly shouted out, "Bra'tac!"

As soon as Klorel's new First Prime arrived into the room Apophis commanded, "Place my son into his sarcophagus, kree!"

Bra'tac bowed silently, acknowledging the order. He was much older now than seventy years ago, during that nasty business with Lantesh and Jolinar. Curiously, there had been so many other atrocities since then that the murder of Martouf and Rosha no longer consciously registered; and these days Bra'tac only served the Goa'uld because he had no other choice, the resentment festering in his mind ever since he had realized that he had been worshipping false gods all his life.

After the 133-year-old Jaffa had taken his temporarily dead master away, Hathor smiled at Apophis. "You do realize that Klorel will now thirst for revenge with regard to the indignities you have heaped upon him, do you not? Granted, there were no witnesses except ourselves, however that means nothing. The son will become the father and the father the son, if he enlists allies against you – such as his mother, Amaunet."

"You have not changed at all, ever since Ra banished you back then," Apophis growled at her. "Do you think me a complete hasshak, a fool? Or did you believe I had forgotten how you used to act within my brother's court? I already have a queen, and you will never take her place as my chosen consort," he sneered at Hathor. "Now depart from my presence, lest I send you back to my dungeons!"

Stiffening in outrage, Hathor nonetheless inclined her head and left. And unlike in a timeline where she would have struck out on her own and attempted to build up a power base relatively slowly, here and now the female Goa'uld made other plans.

After all, Klorel was currently lacking a queen. Even though she still had a major thing for Daniel Jackson after using him for sexual pleasure-slash-DNA donation in Colorado, Hathor was nonetheless willing to enter into such a temporary alliance of convenience with the son of Apophis in order to eventually achieve her goal of galaxy-wide power.

Not to mention her goal of destroying Earth, which was something Hathor desired now with a frightening intensity.

* * *

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado **

**January 17th, 1998**

General George Hammond leaned back in his chair, pushing away the reports he had been reading. The last few months had certainly been very eventful, and Hammond was suddenly reminded of an ancient Chinese curse which said, 'may you live in interesting times'. Something which sounded deceptively mild, until you sat down and really thought about it.

Ever since the Stargate program had been recommissioned the day Apophis had arrived in Colorado looking for slaves and hosts, the Texan general had lived in extremely interesting times.

That was why, some days, Hammond felt that just one more interesting thing on top of everything that had already come to pass, might just drive him nuts.

( _Well, at least I managed to get Dr. Fraiser to take some time off to spend with Cassie,_ ) Hammond thought to himself wearily. Still – a slight smile, with a hint of fondness in it, touched his face for a brief moment as he thought of the little alien girl Janet had been so keen to adopt. She was growing up so fast. Then the smile faded, and George let out a tired sigh. ( _Too bad I wasn't able to do the same for SG-1. Still, I'm sure they'll keep themselves busy for a while._ )

It was true enough; Sam had gone to lecture at the U.S. Air Force academy as a guest speaker, motivating a whole new generation of cadets to be the best they could be.

Teal'c was off-world, searching for a safe location to stash his wife Drey'auc and son Rya'c. He was a family man; even if he had lied about that last year, before he had come to trust the people of Earth.

Daniel Jackson was on another planet as well, looking at some Minoan temples and pottery shards as part of a follow-up scientific expedition to P3X-797.

As for Jack O'Neill, Hammond knew he was no doubt enjoying himself in Sunnydale after escorting Willow Rosenberg and Buffy Summers home, following their little visit here recently.

Suddenly the phone buzzed. "Yes?" Hammond said after he picked up the receiver.

#Rupert Giles to see you, General,# said the voice of Walter Harriman.

"Send him in, Sergeant." As Hammond hung up, the middle-aged Englishman entered the room. "Mr. Giles, what can I do for you?"

"Ah, yes, well, I-I was just wanting to say my farewells before I depart for California," Giles replied, taking off his glasses and briefly polishing them. "I-I-I've learned so much over the past three days, it's all been – well, everything's been quite overwhelming, really."

"Welcome to my world," Hammond smiled for a moment.

"Yes, quite." Giles paused. "There was one thing I wanted to discuss with you before I go, however – the, the question of what to do about Xander and Cordelia?"

"We haven't heard anything from them in nearly two months, Mr. Giles," Hammond replied. "And please don't take this the wrong way, but we do have a lot of other problems to deal with at this command."

"Ah, yes, of course," Giles nodded in embarrassment. "Daniel mentioned that to me, but I'd forgotten in between trying to, to truly grasp what goes on around here, a-and reading about all the different civilizations you've discovered."

General Hammond leaned forward. "Mr. Giles, I've become familiar with your record, including all the different languages you can speak. And in all my time here, I've never known Dr. Jackson to speak of anyone quite as highly as he does of you. It may take some doing to clear it with the Joint Chiefs, but – I think I might be able to arrange a job for you here, if you're interested."

Rupert's eyebrows shot up at once. "Well, I, I, I don't know what to say! I mean – it's a very tempting offer, I will admit...but, but I'm afraid I do have other commitments, as I'm sure you know."

"Yes, these days I know all about Miss Summers and her night-time activities, Dr. Jackson's report was QUITE extensive," Hammond frowned, since that particular paper had pretty much changed his entire world-view a few months ago. "But, uh – and please don't think I'm being callous about this – it's my understanding that vampire Slayers typically don't live very long? Most last only a year or so, and only one has ever made it past the age of twenty-five. So, the odds are that, ah, at some point in the near future..."

Giles could understand what the Air Force general was trying to say as diplomatically as possible. "Buffy is a very special girl, General Hammond. I dare say that there has never been another Slayer like her, a-a-and there never will be again – the Powers That Be most likely broke the mould after she was Chosen. You're right, the-the odds are she won't live all that much longer under normal circumstances. However, we, h-her friends, fully intend to do all that we can to make sure Buffy's passing comes as, as far into the future as is humanly possible."

"Then I'll wish you all the best on that endeavour." Hammond got up and shook the Englishman's hand. "Good luck, Mr. Giles. And don't forget, if at any time you ever need our help, we're just a phone call away."

"Thank you, General. I will keep that in mind." With that, Giles turned and exited the office, eager to make his way home.

* * *

**1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, California**

**January 18th, 1998**

Dressed in pyjamas, Buffy was talking to Willow on the telephone; even though it was now nearly midnight. The Slayer said, "Look, maybe Giles will have something to tell you when we see him in the morning-"

#Like what, Buffy?# the redhead's pained voice was heard coming from the other end of the line. #That same old tired 'I'm sure Xander will be back soon' line? We've been hearing that for two months, already!#

Buffy tried to be patient in the face of her best friend's worry. She was worried about Xander as well, of course, but it was times like this when she suspected that Willow really was going overboard about it. "I know, Willow. But what can we do? You know that those Air Force people won't let us go through that Stargate thing-y to search for Xander, and even if they did – he and Cordy could be literally anywhere in the galaxy right now! Talk about your cosmic needle in a haystack..."

#I know,# Willow's voice now sounded tired and defeated. #I know all that, Buffy, but still – it's not right! Xander shouldn't be off somewhere in outer space in danger of getting killed, he should be here with us where he belongs! I KNEW I should have argued harder about simply yanking that thing out of his head before he and Cordy left town!#

"According to what Colonel O'Neill said, they already tried that once with one of their people around six months ago, remember? And it didn't do any good," Buffy reminded Willow. "Ack! I think I hear my mom coming. G'night, Will, I'll see you at school tomorrow!" So saying, the blonde girl hung up and jumped into bed, just in time before Joyce Summers poked her head in and checked to make sure that her daughter was asleep.

Buffy had some time to think as her mother closed the bedroom door and left. The truth was that she too felt Xander's loss terribly; the group dynamic simply wasn't the same without him. Buffy missed the jokes, the quips, and the unhesitating loyalty the male Slayerette had shown to her and her Calling.

But unlike Willow, she didn't miss Xander as the object of her romantic affections. Because that place in her heart was occupied by Angel.

Tomorrow was the 17th birthday of Buffy Anne Summers. And so her Slayer dream that night not only featured watching Angel get dusted by Drusilla at the Bronze, it also involved witnessing Willow speak French alongside an organ grinder's monkey – as well as Xander and Cordelia having shining yellow-white eyes, and talking in an alien language Buffy couldn't understand...

* * *

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California**

**January 20th, 1998**

A lot had happened over the past two days.

Joyce and Buffy had talked at 1630 Revello Drive the following morning, as part of her Slayer dream came true.

Later that night at her surprise party within the Bronze, Buffy had slain a vampire – and a young man named Daniel 'Oz' Osborne had been present there to see her do it, his eyes finally opened to the real world all around him.

Something called the Judge (an apocalyptic demon destined to burn down the righteous, not a '68 Pontiac GTO) had been reassembled, thanks to Spike and Drusilla.

And worst of all, Buffy had given in to her innermost desires and made love to Angel, the two of them taking comfort in one another after barely escaping with their lives from the warehouse lair of Spike and Drusilla.

This had resulted in Angel having a moment of perfect happiness, and even though the Scoobies didn't know it yet, that meant the soul was gone and Angelus – the evil and malevolent Scourge of Europe – was back in all his glory.

"Colonel? Oh, there you are," Sam said as she, Daniel and Teal'c entered the library. "We came as fast as we could, sir. What's up?"

"Trouble," Jack groaned. "Lots and lots of trouble!"

"What's that supposed to mean? Rupert?" Daniel asked his friend.

"A demon called the Judge, Daniel," Giles took off his glasses. "Something that can't be killed, a-at least not by any weapon forged by man."

"I see. Then that is why General Hammond specifically requested my presence," Teal'c said, holding up his staff weapon.

"Exactly," Giles nodded. The group then began discussing battle strategies and a short while later, Buffy and Willow entered the library. The Watcher instantly noticed his charge had red-rimmed eyes, as though she'd been crying. "Buffy? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just...Angel's been acting weird," Buffy sniffled. The cruel and malicious words that Angelus had said to her after pretending to be her ensouled boyfriend had pierced her heart like a knife. "He, he..."

"He what?" Giles peered at her in confusion.

"He was just being a guy," Willow said hurriedly, trying to cover for her best friend. "I mean, really, guys! Who can figure them out?"

"Look, I'm sorry but we don't have time for this," O'Neill spoke up. "Do either of you have anything new on this Judge demon?"

Both girls said "no" and then reluctantly joined in the research party. A few minutes later, there were shouts and the sounds of mini-explosions were heard coming from outside the library.

The combined group exited the room at once, and saw a rather astonishing sight in the corridor; Xander/Lantesh laying unconscious on the floor, and Cordelia/Jolinar blasting away at Angelus with her hand device.

"NO! Stop it, what are you doing?!" Buffy cried out. Without even thinking about how it was that the two missing Scoobies had suddenly shown up out of nowhere, she tackled Miss Chase onto the floor and Angelus used the opportunity to escape, vanishing out of the school corridor with undead super-speed.

"YOU FOOL! Let go of me!" Jolinar snarled at the Slayer, effortlessly shoving Miss Summers away thanks to her enhanced strength and then getting up. The female Tok'ra was very angry over what had just happened to her mate, as well as annoyed by the long space journey that both Cordy and Xander had insisted upon to return home after all these months away.

"Xander!!" Willow cried out, going to examine him. Her eyes widened as she saw the vampire bite marks on his neck, which were slowly vanishing with every passing second. "What the-"

"What is the meaning of this?" Teal'c demanded, examining Xander himself.

( _Damn it, T, I wish I knew!_ ) Jack thought before he said, "Those look like bite marks-"

"They are! Angel suddenly vamped out and tried to kill Xander!" Cordelia said angrily. She saw Buffy open her mouth and said, "And so help me God, if you say that's impossible – I'll hurt you somewhere your precious Slayer healing won't ever be able to fix! I KNOW what I saw just now!"

"Ow. What happened?" Xander asked, rubbing his neck and getting up after Lantesh had healed his injuries and he'd woken up.

Willow instantly rushed to hug him. "Are you okay? Xander, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Will," Harris replied, gently extracting himself from the redhead's embrace despite the hurt look on Willow's face. "But like I said, what happened?" Then he remembered, as Lantesh supplied the memories as clearly as possible. "Wait a sec, Dead Boy actually bit me? What, my neck suddenly looked that delicious to him?"

"I see that your sense of humour has survived intact, at the very least," Jolinar smirked at him, both she and her host calming down at last.

"Did you ever doubt it?" Lantesh replied with his own smirk, before Xander took over again and asked, "So, what's the sitch?"

After hearing what the others had to say, Harris turned to the Slayer with a frown. "Buff, what's your take on all this? I mean, why would Angel have suddenly done a complete one-eighty on us like that?"

Buffy shook her head, "Xander, please, I can't – I can't do this right now!" She turned and ran away down the corridor. Willow immediately set off after her.

( _I KNEW that leaving a vampire, a couple of teenage kids and a British librarian to look after the situation in this town was a bad idea – right from the start! _) Jack thought to himself cynically. It was obvious to him that things would have to change drastically later on – but first, they needed to deal with the Big Bad.

"Okay, campers, one problem at a time. Never mind what's up with the walking dead right now, we need to think; where could we possibly find this Judge guy?" O'Neill demanded, still focused on the demon that had been put back together like an evil version of Humpty-Dumpty.

"I-I don't know, uh...somewhere crowded, I suppose. I mean, the Judge needs bodies...human victims to feed upon. The more the, the merrier," Giles replied uncertainly.

"A nightclub of some sort?" Daniel finally spoke up. Like the rest of his team-mates, he was trying to focus on the big picture despite all the surprises so far this evening.

"The only club big enough would be the Bronze, and it's closed tonight. Cordy and I passed by on our way here, after we arrived home," Xander told him, even if he didn't say where exactly the cloaked ship that had brought both of them to Earth was currently parked.

"That reminds me, later on? We ARE going to talk about the situation concerning you two and those symbiotes attached to your brain stems," Carter promised him.

"That's what YOU think," Cordelia told her rudely, raising her hand device in order for Sam to get the message. "'Cause this isn't Colorado, and I didn't come all the way here for you people to try to lock me up again! God, do you have any idea how long it's been since I've had a chance to shop at places like Victoria's Secret? Not to mention-"

"Wait, that's it! I know where that demon's gonna go," Xander said excitedly. "Giles, grab Willow and Buffy and meet us at the Sunnydale Mall. Colonel O'Neill, you and your team come with me and Cordy; we've got, uh, some requisitioning to do from the local Army base."

TBC...


	5. Innocence Lost

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. Our most sincere gratitude as always, dear readers, go to those of you who have reviewed and sent feedback! Please, keep it coming. For this chapter, in the end we decided to skip that part of "Innocence" where the gang gets their hands on the rocket launcher. Feel free to use your imaginations on how SG-1 and a couple of Tok'ra could pull off such a thing, people! Anyway, on with the story...

* * *

**Chapter Five: Innocence Lost**

**The Sunnydale Mall, Sunnydale, California**

**January 20th, 1998**

As the Judge, accompanied by Angelus, Drusilla and a cohort of vampire minions arrived in the mall shortly after sunset, the big blue demon nodded. "This will do."

"Lock the exits, boys," Angelus gave the order before saying to the Judge, "It's all yours."

"Oh, goody!" the insane Drusilla started bouncing up and down with glee.

The Judge extended his arms, and an arc of energy shot out to and through the various people shopping at the mall. The human cattle all froze as the Judge smiled, the energy criss-crossing its way through all of his victims as Big Blue separated the righteous from the wicked and prepared to turn the righteous to ashes.

Suddenly, though, a crossbow bolt hit the Judge in the chest and broke his concentration. The arc of energy disappeared, and the people all fell to the floor, hurting and dazed. The Judge grabbed at the wooden bolt and pulled it out from his chest, snarling, "Who dares-?"

Just then, the Judge felt the impact of Teal'c's staff weapon fire hit him full in the chest. The energy discharge hurt him slightly, but nothing more. Turning to glare at the black man the demon growled, "You fool. No weapon forged can stop me!"

"Teal'c, get out of there! Harris, you're on!" Jack shouted into his throat mic, as Sam and Daniel began yanking people off the floor and out of harm's way. ( _I hope this works, I hope this works..._ ) O'Neill prayed fervently, knowing that if it didn't – his side had no more aces up their sleeves.

Angelus and Drusilla exchanged a look, as they saw Xander raise an anti-tank rocket launcher to his shoulder. ( _Oh, no..._ ) they both thought in dismay.

"What's that do?" the Judge asked in confusion, as the two soulless vampires ran for it and jumped off the balcony – just in time, it seemed, as the 66mm High-Explosive Anti-Tank warhead hit the demon, and the Judge exploded into little burning pieces.

"That should do it," Lantesh said to his mate, as the smoking chunks of the Judge landed everywhere on the floor amidst all the screaming people.

Jolinar nodded approvingly. "Mr. Giles? Do you think he's dead?"

"I...I can't be sure. We'd best pick up the pieces, keep them separate," the Watcher decided, motioning to Willow and Buffy to assist him.

"I'm going after Angel," Buffy shook her head, ditching her crossbow and running off.

Xander and Lantesh took off as well, as they swiftly caught up with Drusilla. The smoke from the explosion finally reached the sprinklers, and they turned on everywhere; drenching that entire section of the mall with water. The Tok'ra operative ignored it as best he could as he shouted, "STOP!"

Drusilla stopped and turned around, a look of sheer hate appearing on her face. "YOU! This is all your fault! The stars, they told me, they told me you'd cause trouble – you wicked li'l snake, you're not supposed to be 'ere! Get out of my kitten!" Dru shouted.

Lantesh raised his left arm, the one bearing his hand device. The alien weapon then fired point-blank at Drusilla's chest, blowing open a large and slightly fiery hole that hurled Dru back against the wall.

A hole...directly through her heart.

A confused look on her face was the last thing ever seen of Drusilla, as the insane vampiress exploded into dust – and a number of plans that Destiny had in mind did likewise.

/ _**Nice shooting,**_ / Xander commented as he turned around, heading back to where the frightened mall patrons were running every which way.

/ _**Thank you,**_ / Lantesh replied. / _**Now, where are the rest of your friends?**_ /

/ _**Over there,**_ / Xander pointed as he headed towards the Scooby Gang. / _**Wait a minute, where's Buffy?**_ /

/ _**She can look after herself,**_ / the symbiote replied, taking in all the chaos happening around them. / _**For now, our priority should be helping SG-1 and your friends collect all the pieces of the Judge, so that we can dispose of him in a neutron star or a black hole or whatever else is most convenient.**_ /

Xander accepted that and began to assist Jack, Sam, Daniel, Giles, Cordelia and Willow in the clean-up detail. He therefore missed out on Buffy's fight with Angelus, which was taking place not too far away.

"You know what the worst part was, huh? Pretending that I loved you. If I'd known how easily you'd give it up, I wouldn't have even bothered," the soulless vampire sneered as the fight came to a short intermission.

"Angel would never say something like that! You're an evil shape-shifter demon or something, aren't you?" Buffy said as firmly as possible, trying to convince herself of that.

Angelus smiled evilly. "You'd like to think that, huh? But no, the truth is you made me the man I am today!"

"What?"

"You heard me, sweetheart. I mean, who'd have thought that doing the mattress mambo with you would give poor old Angel that moment of perfect happiness needed to make that useless wimp go bye-bye?" Angelus asked merrily. "Congratulations, Buff; you definitely proved adequate enough to fuck the soul out of me!"

Enraged and horrified by what she'd just heard, Buffy kicked him in the face. Angelus blocked her next swing, though, and punched her in the face and in the stomach. He grabbed the female Champion and swung her around to throw her into the wall, but Buffy managed to regain her balance just in time. So Angelus kicked her in the head and this time, Buffy fell to the floor.

"Not quittin' on me already, are ya? Come on, Buffy. You know you want it, huh?" Angelus taunted her, before his eyes went wide. He just barely managed to duck aside as the sound of a staff weapon discharging could be heard – and then a part of the wall exploded.

Angelus grabbed Buffy as a hostage as he whirled around to face Teal'c, who was still aiming his staff weapon at him. "Put it down, or I'll kill her!" the soulless vampire snarled, choking Buffy around the throat.

"You will kill her anyway, urkek'taur. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before you revealed your true nature," Teal'c told him brusquely. To both Buffy and Angelus's disbelief, he then opened fire once more, aiming for the vampire's head.

Again, with those inhuman reflexes Angelus managed to avoid getting hit. Figuring that his enemy didn't care about collateral damage anymore than he did, Angelus threw Buffy away and ran for it – as fast his undead feet could carry him.

"We should rejoin the others," Teal'c said, yanking Buffy up off the floor and apparently oblivious to the dirty look she sent him. The Jaffa then led the way back to the rest of the group, and soon enough, the white hats departed the scene of battle.

* * *

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California**

**January 21st, 1998**

"What do you mean, you're leaving!?!"

Xander winced at how loudly Willow's question seemed to bounce off of the library walls, a few minutes past midnight. "It means that Cordy and I have to get outta here, before the SGC people get any funny ideas about locking us up again. That Captain Carter lady? I'm pretty sure she's still pissed off at us for making her look bad in front of her superiors last year, we probably cost her a promotion or something. Look, Willow, I'm sorry if the news is making you upset-"

"UPSET? Mister, you have no idea yet what the word 'upset' really means!" Willow shouted. "For God's sake, you just got here! And, and have you considered what that's gonna do to Buffy!? Angel tried to kill her less than six hours ago-"

"Yeah, so tell me again – WHY didn't that guy get staked as soon as everyone found out what he really was?" Xander looked very angry as he interrupted her. "And don't give me that look, Will – you know darn well how I never liked or trusted Dead Boy from day one, and that was BEFORE he lost his soul and tried to snack on my neck!"

"Xander, how can you say that?!" Miss Rosenberg yelled, more upset than ever. "You heard what Buffy said – what happened to Angel wasn't his fault! And I know that alien snake inside your head forced you to leave us behind back in November, but still – Angel was here! You weren't! You weren't here to help with Ted, or-or those Bezoar demons-"

"Willow, I did not compel Xander to do anything against his will in Sunnydale last year," Lantesh interrupted in that echoing, reverberating voice. "Neither have I forced him to do anything since; that is not the Tok'ra way."

"You actually expect me to believe that? Because the Xander I know would never just abandon me and Buffy for so long!" Willow retorted stubbornly.

"Will, please, listen to what I'm saying. Things are different now," Xander said slowly and carefully. "The Tok'ra weren't able to find any new hosts for either Lantesh or Jolinar thanks to what the Goa'uld have been up to lately, but that doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned – because not long ago, Lantesh and I became fully blended."

"Fully blended? What's that mean?" Miss Rosenberg demanded, confused by his last statement.

"We're a permanent package deal now, the Tok'ra thing isn't just something temporary anymore-" Xander started to say.

"WHAT?!" Willow looked like she couldn't believe her ears.

"Yeah, I eventually decided to join up and take part in the fight after Lantesh and I became close friends. And there's so much I know now which I didn't before," Xander replied with a slightly haunted look. "I'm a pretty good pilot nowadays, for example. But Lantesh has some pretty lousy stuff in his memory as well – including what happened to the host before me, his name was Martouf. That asshole Apophis, when I think of what he ordered his Jaffa to do seventy years ago..."

"Okay, so you've picked up some new skills and you've got some bad memories of the past. What else?" Willow asked, now feeling somewhat unsettled over the expression on her beloved's face.

"Well, a few weeks ago I had to force myself to just watch and do nothing as millions of people got killed, all because they wouldn't worship these two Goa'uld who showed up saying that they were the new 'gods' of the planet."

"WHAT?!" the redhead said again in pure shock.

"Yeah, those people refused to do it, they said no...so the Goa'uld destroyed that world, they killed everything on the surface in less than two days. We're talking the equivalent of the apocalypse that happened here last year with the Master, but there was no Buffy to save everyone at the last moment. The bad guys won, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do to stop it!"

Xander exhaled before saying, "Willow, look, I know it's gonna be tough without me from now on – especially on the Buffster, now that Angel is officially part of Team Evil. But Lantesh is right, she'll take care of Overbite eventually with SG-1's help – and I can't stay here and just pretend that the Goa'uld haven't put this planet on their genocide to-do list, like they have with so many others. Just like, uh...just like you can't pretend that vampires aren't real anymore, I guess."

"I don't care. I'm sorry, but I don't! Whatever the justification, Xander, whatever the excuse – Buffy needs you here after everything that's happened. I need you here too!" Willow said obstinately.

Lantesh spoke up, "Perhaps I should point out that if the reason you need Xander here is that you were hoping to establish some sort of romantic union with him, then I'm sorry, Willow – but I believe the appropriate phrase is, 'that ship has sailed'."

"Huh?"

"Ever since her 17th birthday a few weeks ago, the relationship between Xander and Cordelia has become fully consummated, so to speak," Lantesh informed the computer hacker, ignoring Xander's demands to shut up about that.

Willow's sea-green eyes went wide as she finally got it, and then revulsion filled her heart as she saw Xander grimace over the words that had just come out of his mouth. ( _Oh God, no..._ )

"Yeah, about that – look, I-I was going to tell you. Eventually," he said apologetically.

"You had sex with Cordelia? YOU HAD SEX WITH CORDELIA?!" Willow looked completely disgusted. "I don't believe this! You...and her? That's something so gross it's – well, it's against all the laws of God and man for starters! Remember the, the 'We Hate Cordelia' club, of which you are the co-founder and treasurer!?"

"Willow, you're overreac-"

"No, I'm not overreacting! Don't you get it yet? Xander, I've been saving myself for you ever since we were six years old!" Miss Rosenberg ranted at him, much to Xander's surprise. "What, have you completely lost your mind? Or did Lantesh and Jolinar finally convince you and that slut that it'd be fun to play doctor in outer space?!"

"Uh, no," Harris confessed, disliking his best friend calling his girlfriend a 'slut' but knowing that now was not the best time to press her on the issue. "Well, I guess their feelings for one another did influence Cordy and me a bit, but, um...one thing sort of just led to another, actually. See, I'm not sure when exactly real feelings developed between us-"

"WHAT?!" This time, Willow shrieked loud enough almost to be overheard in the next county.

"Yeah, I know it's kinda freaksome. But, uh, Cordelia and I have been living together for nearly two months now, Lantesh and Jolinar talked us into it – and that's how I've learned that once you look past Cordy's superficial bitchy exterior, there's a person inside there who's actually worth loving," Xander said to his oldest friend, trying to make her believe him.

"So that's why you and Cordelia had sex?" Willow felt like her heart was shattering into little pieces.

"Well, ah, partly – 'cause even putting aside how much Lantesh and Jolinar wanted each other, by that point...well, making out simply wasn't enough anymore for us either. Hell, we'd been doing that ever since we were trapped in Buffy's basement by Norman the Bug Man-"

A look of shock fell upon Xander's face, as he suddenly realized what he was saying thanks to Lantesh's frantic warnings. "Uh, wait, no, I-I mean..."

Willow's eyes were almost as wide as saucers. It took her a few moments but then she said, "Oh my God. That day when Giles, Buffy and I caught you and Cordelia making out before you left for Colorado – that wasn't just Lantesh and Jolinar, was it? You and that slut were enjoying yourselves despite the whole Tok'ra thing, weren't you?"

"Willow..."

"You want to leave Sunnydale, Xander? Then go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you," Willow said in an emotionless voice which tore Xander's heart despite the comforting words of Lantesh inside his skull.

"Willow..."

"You won't leave? Fine, then I will. Goodbye, Xander," Willow told him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears before she turned around and left the library.

"Well..." Xander muttered, feeling like he had made a complete and utter mess of things, "...that could have gone better."

* * *

**The planet Abydos, approximately two hundred and seventy light-years from Earth**

**January 27th, 1998**

Hathor smiled as Amaunet glared at her impotently, a captive on the homeworld of her host – the woman named Sha're, the wife of Daniel Jackson.

Abydos was a desert world, the place where Ra had ruled over and ultimately died nearly two years ago. Even though Hathor didn't really care about that – no Goa'uld truly cared about anything except their own personal power – she did find it fitting that those Abydonians who had rebelled against her former pharaoh had been annihilated by the Jaffa who had accompanied herself, Klorel and Amaunet on this reconnaissance mission.

"You will never succeed in your plans," Amaunet hissed at her enemy through Sha're's mouth. "Once Apophis learns of your treachery-"

"And how exactly will the vile Apophis learn what has happened here? YOU will not tell him," Hathor cut her off, the evil smile never leaving her lips. "We very much doubt that Klorel will tell him, either. The pleasures of the flesh we have chosen to bestow upon your son have made our temporary consort most amenable to our plans."

Amaunet briefly glanced at all the dead bodies surrounding her, both those of the serpent guards and the natives of Abydos. For the first time ever since Apophis had made her his queen all those millennia ago, the parasite began to fear for her life. "What do you want of me?"

"An interesting question," Hathor began to stroll around the Gate room within Ra's former temple. "But what makes you think we desire anything from you?"

"Why else would I still be alive?" Amaunet demanded.

"Perhaps we simply wish to witness you – and your host – suffer," Hathor replied as she jabbed her fellow queen with a Goa'uld pain stick.

Amaunet screamed in agony, as the yellow-orange light flooded out of her mouth. Then she screamed again, as Hathor jabbed her with the stick once more.

"Then again, perhaps not," Hathor remarked casually. "Perhaps we wish to know all that you have learned regarding our beloved, the one named Daniel Jackson. The joy that we once felt as he held us in his arms remains unparalleled, as your host can doubtless inform you."

Amaunet growled incoherently after hearing the agonized thoughts of betrayal from Sha're – which the queen Goa'uld immediately crushed with a brutal torrent of pain. / _**Silence, you fool! Do not distract me again!**_ /

"Or perhaps we wish to learn whatever information you possess concerning the despicable Tok'ra, especially the one calling himself Lantesh," Hathor said a lot less pleasantly than before.

"Lantesh, and Jolinar of Malkshur? I remember them. Apophis personally disposed of them both nearly a century ago," Amaunet said haughtily.

"Not very well, it would seem," Hathor replied in kind, before she smiled again. "But no. The truth is that your first assumption was incorrect – we ultimately desire nothing from you, except witnessing your death. Now DIE!" Hathor held up her hand device, and slowly tortured Amaunet to death with it.

Along with Sha're. And unlike what had happened on Chulak last December, there would be no sarcophagus here to resurrect them from the realm of the dead...

TBC...


	6. Revelations

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. A big thank-you to everyone who's read and reviewed and sent feedback about the story! You've made some remarkably accurate and not-so-accurate predictions concerning where we're gonna go with this story. Anyway, we're over halfway to the big finish, so without further ado, folks, on with the show...

* * *

**Chapter Six: Revelations**

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California**

**January 30th, 1998**

As the young man nicknamed 'Oz' left the library, Rupert Giles sighed and sat down on one of the chairs at the table, putting aside the globe he had used to explain the lunar cycle to the newly-cursed werewolf.

It had been a long week and a half ever since Angelus had disappeared and Drusilla had been killed at the mall. Buffy had been utterly inconsolable the whole time, just like Willow – even though the two girls had somewhat different reasons for their feelings.

( _Blast it all, they never covered THIS in my training at the Watchers Academy!_ ) Giles grumbled to himself, trying to summon the energy to get up and make himself a cup of tea. ( _It's not supposed to be part of my duties to, to worry about the love lives of teenage Americans! _)

Unfortunately, the British man couldn't help doing so. He loved the young blonde Slayer like a father, even though he knew he shouldn't – it rendered him incapable of clear and impartial judgement with regard to the 'Slayage', as Buffy called it. Likewise, he cared about Willow a lot more than he should have; Giles privately considered the brilliant young woman to be his unofficial protégé, and was almost ready to let the female teen take over the reins for some of his Watcher duties.

Rupert thought to himself with a mental sigh, ( _I should have known that Willow wouldn't get over Xander leaving town again anytime soon, and I should never have allowed Buffy to get involved with a bloody vampire in the first place. Ah well, hopefully this thing with that werewolf boy will distract one or maybe even both of them – at least for a while._ )

At that moment, outside in the corridor Buffy and Willow were having a conversation when Oz walked by. The redhead and the musician locked eyes for a moment, before Oz moved on.

"What was that?" Buffy asked, staring back and forth between her best friend and Oz's back.

"What was what?" Willow replied a bit too innocently.

"That look between you and Oz," the Slayer narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, uh, nothing, really," Willow said hurriedly. "I was just wondering how things went with him and Giles. You know – I still think it's kinda weird that he's the werewolf we've been looking for, for the past three days!"

"I know. There's been a lot of weirdness lately," Buffy sighed. "That Colonel O'Neill guy, he really was serious about saying that he was going to do something about the demon situation in Sunnydale. The past week or so, I've been seeing lots of soldiers out on patrol at nights; and I finally managed to get it into their thick heads that bullets don't kill vampires, they should use stakes and crosses instead! I swear, the majority of them are just going to get themselves killed..."

"I don't think there's anything we can do about that, Buff," Willow shrugged as they walked to their next class. "Those military people, they think that anyone our age shouldn't be part of the whole demon-hunting thing. Including you."

"Well, what would they know? I'm the Slayer, I know what I'm doing – they don't. They should be doing something more useful with their time – like finding Xander and Cordelia!" Buffy declared.

Willow's expression changed dramatically, and Buffy immediately berated herself for speaking without thinking that way. "I'm sorry, Will, I know that you-"

"Have you heard the latest? Mr. and Mrs. Chase have disappeared out of Sunnydale," Willow interrupted her friend. "That background investigation the government did after what happened last year – apparently, the IRS found out that Cordelia's parents haven't paid their taxes properly ever since 1987. The latest rumour is that they're going to repossess everything, the Chase family is going to end up completely broke..."

The Rosenberg girl suddenly smiled; a cruel and vindictive smile that didn't belong on her usually kind and cheerful face. "So if Cordelia ever comes back, I can't wait to see the look on her face when she learns that!"

Buffy glanced at her sharply as they ventured into the classroom. She knew that Willow was still hurting after the loss of Xander, just as she was after the loss of Angel; both of them still had a giant, empty, sucking hole in their hearts after their men had vanished out of their lives.

But still, that sort of attitude wasn't healthy; so Buffy decided to give Oz a helping hand when it came to winning the heart of Willow Rosenberg, because she knew that there was definite sparkage between them.

( _I mean, that whole werewolf thing is definitely gonna put a strain on their relationship, I know that,_ ) Buffy mused to herself as she and Willow took their seats. ( _Still, a dog is better to deal with than a snake, any day of the week..._ )

* * *

**Outside City Hall, Sunnydale, California**

**January 31st, 1998**

The balance demon named Whistler was not having a good day.

( _It wasn't supposed to go down like this,_ ) the man in the hat thought to himself despondently as he walked along. ( _I figured Angel's big day would come in about three months or so, he'd stop Acathla from being brought forth and save the planet. But instead, he made with the old hump 'n grind and became a soulless creep again, before Loony Girl got killed and Wheelchair Boy got tossed out into the sunlight. Geez, what else could happen?_ )

At that moment, Whistler witnessed some military policemen wearing United States Air Force uniforms dragging a cursing and handcuffed Richard Wilkins outside the building and into an unmarked van, before driving away. No one appeared to take any notice of Whistler, though, which was exactly the way the human-looking demon wanted it at the moment.

( _Right, of course. Stupid question,_ ) Whistler groaned to himself. ( _The honourable mayor of Demon Town getting his ass sent to Area 51, in order for those flyboy comedians to find out how the hell he's been hanging around ever since the 1850's! All thanks to that four-eyed geek sticking his nose in where he wasn't supposed to. Which, in turn, was due to that class clown and the womb with a view ditching this burg, and heading off into outer space? Ugh, this is hopeless..._ )

Whistler had told his bosses, the Powers That Be, more than once that they shouldn't completely ignore everything that took place beyond the earth realm that way. Maybe if they'd been a bit more focused, the current situation might have been averted – or at least channelled to play out a bit differently.

But then, as the old saying went, there was no point in crying over spilt milk; it was too late to change what had happened to Angel now, and it was also time to put all that aside and see to it that other arrangements were made.

Whistler vanished, as the end of an era in Sunnydale finally came to pass.

* * *

**The Dragon Cove Magic Shoppe, Sunnydale, California**

**Just after sunset**

Angelus stepped into the establishment, peering around at what he called the local boogedy-boogedy store.

The soulless vampire hadn't been in a happy mood lately. Unlike in a world where he would have been distracted for a while by shagging Drusilla – in order to both have some fun, and infuriate the crippled Spike – here and now he'd had nothing to divert him from his fantasies of breaking Buffy; driving her mad before finally killing her. That was why he'd killed a number of people that Miss Summers knew...

Theresa Klusmeyer, Amy Madison and Jenny Calendar.

The death of the last victim in particular had hit Buffy, Willow and Giles very hard. But the problem was, from Angelus's point of view, that the blonde guardian of the Hellmouth had gotten herself some military support lately – and even though the uniformed fools were currently no threat to him, Angelus knew that there was no point in taking any chances in the future.

As Angelus headed towards the counter, the shopkeeper said with a Romanian accent, "Welcome. How may I serve you today? A love potion, perhaps? Or maybe a voodoo doll for that unfaithful..."

"Cut the crap and the phoney accent," Angelus interrupted him in annoyance.

"Oh, you're in the trade? Sorry about that," the shopkeeper said apologetically, speaking normally now. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for mystical artefacts," Angelus said, perusing the shelves. "The more exotic the better."

"I'm sorry, but we don't deal much in that sort of thing here," the shopkeeper shrugged. "Well, apart from the stuff I sell to New Agers, like an Orb of Thesulah?"

"No thanks," Angelus managed to hide a grimace. "You got any books on the subject?"

"As a matter of fact I do," the shopkeeper went into the back and returned with a couple of dusty old collector's pieces. "Hume's Paranormal Encyclopedia, and Sir Robert Kane's Twilight Compendium. They make references to a lot of stuff; the Key, the Urn of Osiris, and even the mythical Gem of Amara..."

The male vampire's head snapped up, and too late, the shopkeeper realized just what sort of customer had wandered into his store.

* * *

**The Vorash star system, approximately fourteen thousand light-years from Earth**

**February 2nd, 1998**

The Tel'tak vessel soared past the planet the Tok'ra had established their base upon after fleeing P34-353J, and headed directly for the yellow sun around which that world orbited.

"It's about time we got here," Cordelia complained, getting up to stretch from the co-pilot's chair. "Almost makes me wonder if we shouldn't have just asked to use the Stargate in Colorado..."

"You know that that would have been impossible," Lantesh replied, as Xander was still intent on his piloting. "Once the Tok'ra High Council establishes some sort of formal treaty with your government, then we can use your world's Chappa'ai that way; but not until that takes place. There are simply too many risks involved, including all of us ending up in that jail cell again."

"Please, don't remind me," Cordy grumbled as she decided to take a walk to the engineering section.

/ _**What's wrong?**_ / Jolinar asked the Chase girl. / _**I know you're upset about something, I can sense it**_. /

/ _**Does the word privacy mean nothing to you?**_ / Cordelia snapped, before she mentally sighed. / _**All right – I'm worried about Xander, if you must know. He's barely said two words ever since we left Earth! I don't know what Willow said to him before we headed back to Kingman's Bluff that night, but he's been completely miserable ever since. And it's not like I can say anything against her, either; that'll just make things worse!**_ /

/ _**Lantesh will help him 'deal', I believe the term is**_, / Jolinar said confidently. / _**What one feels, both feel; and I have no doubt that once they have settled back into their routine, Xander will get over his bad mood.**_ /

/ _**Really?**_ / Cordelia shot back. / _**Because I'm telling you, Xander simply can't stand the idea that Willow's pissed at him! Well, it's not as if I expected any different from her. Once she and Buffy learned that we've started sleeping together, it was pretty much obvious that they'd go completely ballistic – especially Willow!**_ /

/ _**Unrequited love is always difficult to deal with,**_ / Jolinar agreed. / _**Still, Willow Rosenberg is fairly young – barely on the cusp of becoming an adult, just like yourself. She will most likely find someone else eventually, once that girl accepts that Xander will now live at least twice as long as she will.**_ /

Cordelia grimaced. / _**Yeah. And to think, less than six months ago I thought that you were old by the time you were twenty-five – I swear, ever since you became part of my life, it's like I've become a completely different person!**_ /

/ _**Not all that different,**_ / Jolinar replied wryly. / _**You still desire to be a mother one day, don't you?**_ /

Cordelia remained silent for a few seconds, annoyed over how she had confided that to the female Tok'ra. / _**Yeah. Yeah, I do, **_/ she finally admitted. / _**And I know that that's a problem. I mean, at least as long as you're here in my body. **_/

/ _**Not necessarily,**_ / Jolinar replied. / _**Even though we are not fully blended, it's true that any child you conceive will be affected my active presence and die thanks to a miscarriage. But it's possible for me to go to sleep throughout your pregnancy, in order to protect your baby. Or else maybe one day, after I find another host-**_ /

/ _**Hey, don't you even think that!**_ / Cordelia interrupted furiously. / _**You think I wanna go down that road – watch my boyfriend make out with another girl whenever you and Lantesh lose control of your snake-y hormones? As if! No one gets to kiss Xander Harris anymore except ME!**_ /

/ _**In that case, let's settle this once and for all. Join with me fully, and become a true Tok'ra,**_ / Jolinar asked her host. / _**I feel certain that the bond you share with your paramour will only be strengthened once he learns the news, and help him get over what happened on Earth. It will not be the safest or the most rewarding of lives, true. But barring death by violence, both you and he will live for roughly two centuries; which is time enough for you to have as many children as you want. Time enough for you, Xander, Lantesh and I to all love as one. What do you say?**_ /

Cordelia was stunned, to be perfectly honest. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about it before, especially ever since she'd learned that Xander had chosen his own path – to fully align himself with Lantesh and fight to free the galaxy from the tyranny of the Goa'uld. She knew that, to Xander's way of thinking, the false gods were a deadly threat to the existence of planet Earth that could be combated by someone of the non-Slayer variety – namely, himself.

But to walk that same path with him – to give up her dreams of one day being an international superstar, of living in places like New York and Los Angeles in comfort and luxury? To give up being all that she had been, for a life of hardship and adversity in order to one day overthrow the evil aliens ruling throughout the Milky Way?

( _Do I love Xander enough to do that?_ ) Cordelia asked herself honestly. ( _I mean yeah, I care about him a lot – otherwise, I wouldn't have lost my virginity to the big dummy last month! But a lifetime commitment to the guy, that's something else..._ )

"Cordy? Where are you?" Xander's voice echoed in her ear through the ship's comm. system.

"Engineering! Gimme a second, I'll be right there!" Cordelia called back, closing the panel of crystals Jolinar had been inspecting concerning the hyperdrive engine. She then quickly made her way to the bridge and said, "So, what is it?"

"It is time," Lantesh answered her, as he put the ship into polar orbit around the sun. He then got up from the pilot's chair and said, "Would you care to do the honours, my love?"

"Of course," Jolinar replied, taking over and sliding Cordelia's body into the control chair. The Tok'ra operative then activated the transport rings near the rear of the ship.

The burnt and blackened remains of the Judge were thus ejected into outer space and headed down to the surface of Vorash's sun; where they abruptly ignited and disappeared in a small flash of light, visible from the main window of the cargo ship. That whole 'no weapon forged' thing didn't apply to the stars themselves, fortunately.

"Scratch one big blue apocalypse demon from ever threatening anyone again," Xander said in deep satisfaction, as he sat down in the co-pilot's chair.

"We'd best return to the base now," Jolinar laid in a course for Vorash, and the ship headed for the only habitable planet in the system. "And Xander, I believe that Cordelia has some things that she wishes to discuss with you along the way."

Harris stared at his girlfriend quizzically, before Cordelia started talking. His surprise only increased when he heard what Miss Chase had to say. The discussion lasted a long time, before they arrived back within the network of crystalline tunnels and caves the Tok'ra had established underneath the planetary surface.

And later that night, when the two crazy kids had fallen asleep after making love yet again, the other Tok'ra discussed amongst themselves what would happen now that Cordelia had made her choice and fully blended with her symbiote.

* * *

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado**

**The same time**

"I received some interesting correspondence from Sunnydale, Jack. It seems that after you and the rest of SG-1 visited the local Army base under the command of Colonel Sam Newsome, some supplies turned up missing – including an M72 LAW and some HE incendiary warheads. Not to mention that one of the enlisted men reported seeing two teenagers, whose description just happens to match that of the two Tok'ra you told me helped you take care of that 'Judge' thing. So, is there anything you'd care to add to your report from a couple of weeks ago?" General Hammond asked his second-in-command.

"No, sir, not really," Jack shrugged in his chair, knowing that his C.O. honestly didn't want to know the truth. "Well, apart from the fact that Rupert Giles did ask at one point if there was any possibility of us sending an army to fight that invincible killer demon. I'd say it's a good thing that Harris and his girlfriend showed up out of nowhere, and kinda made that unnecessary."

"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that they managed to leave Earth again afterwards – or that there have been too many losses with regard to the personnel posted to Sunnydale recently," Hammond frowned. "Colonel Newsome has gotten very unhappy over the number of deaths in his command."

"Yes, sir. I, uh, I'd heard about that," Jack nodded. "I guess the training procedures will definitely need to be revamped for that particular combat zone, if you'll pardon the expression. I thought he was going to hire on Rupert Giles as a consultant, though?"

Hammond exhaled, looking around his office for a moment. "Sam Newsome is a good man, an experienced leader and an imaginative officer. But unfortunately, he often goes by the book a bit too much – which in this case precludes accepting foreign civilian help."

"So what do we do, sir? Because quite frankly, I don't like the idea of asking Miss Summers for help, or for her to go back to what she was doing before we found out what goes on in Sunnydale. Slayer or otherwise, teenage girls like her shouldn't be on the front lines of a war," O'Neill said firmly. It simply couldn't sink into Jack's brain that the demons and vampires didn't see Buffy as a teenage girl, but rather an empowered enemy and an object of fear; and that the Chosen One had not only refused to listen to his orders, she found it very therapeutic to kill the evil undead after losing her boyfriend last month.

"I'm afraid that's no longer our problem, Jack. My latest orders from the President are to leave the Hellmouth alone from now on; another outfit will be taking over what goes on there. Some sort of demon research initiative," George told his subordinate. "What we have to focus on is making sure that Earth doesn't get destroyed by the Goa'uld."

Jack felt a strange twinge in his gut. "Which means what exactly, sir?"

"We need alien allies with advanced technology, Jack," Hammond admitted. "Think about it, how many times has this planet come under threat from what's on the other side of the Gate? The Touched virus. That Unity energy being. Those Argosian nanocytes. Not to mention the Goa'uld attempting to blast their way through the iris last week," the Texan general said, not knowing the reason why Apophis had done that was because he had been led to believe that the SGC forces had murdered Amaunet.

"That's why the President has authorised a meeting with the Tok'ra High Council, or whatever it is Mr. Harris called them the last time he was here. IF they're trustworthy, and IF they can be talked into helping us, then there's going to be a formal alliance between ourselves and them – and I think you can guess who the most likely choice of ambassadors will be," George finished up.

"With all due respect, General! Our job should be finding Harris and Miss Chase, getting those snakes out of their heads and giving those kids their lives back! For crying out loud – right now, those two should be doing their homework, or taking part in some high school sports program, or whatever it is teenagers get up to in Sunnydale. Not fighting the Goa'uld somewhere out there!" Jack almost exploded.

"I know, Jack. I know," the Texan general nodded, leaning back in his chair. "But we have our orders. For better or worse, Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase are no longer the object of a search and rescue mission; and most likely from now on they'll be treated as alien ambassadors, not United States citizens."

It was days like this when Jack O'Neill wondered whether he should have just stayed on Abydos with Skaara, Daniel and Sha're two years ago, and never even come back to Earth.

TBC...


	7. The Quick And The Dead

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. Hello all, welcome to the latest chapter of the fanfic! As always a big thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed so far, and for this chapter we'd especially like to express our gratitude to the author named Hotpoint (http://www . fanfiction . net/u/715267/Hotpoint) who mentioned the planet P2C-257 as being relatively close to Earth, in his Stargate SG-1/X-COM story series. If you haven't read his work, check it out as it's an excellent read. Okay, enough chatter, it's time to get on with why everybody came here in the first place...

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**Chapter Seven: The Quick And The Dead**

**The planet Chulak, over two thousand light-years from Earth**

**February 4th, 1998**

Apophis brooded alone as he sat upon his throne, his host's eyes staring at nothing in particular within the darkness. The Goa'uld System Lord then glanced to the left, at the empty place where Amaunet used to sit, and suddenly his anger increased to white-hot incendiary levels.

( _Those who took Amaunet from me must be made to pay for their actions,_ ) Apophis swore to himself yet again. ( _Not only have I lost my queen, but also the chance to create a Harcesis child with her as my next host! Whoever killed Amaunet must DIE!_ )

At that moment, Bra'tac entered the chamber and stood at attention before the false god. "You sent for me, Lord Apophis?"

"Indeed, Bra'tac," Apophis said suspiciously. "Tell me again what transpired on Abydos."

"Neither Amaunet nor Hathor returned to the Ha'tak vessel at the expected time. After they had delayed too long, Lord Klorel sent me to investigate; and when my forces arrived, I found Amaunet mutilated and Hathor gravely wounded by a Tau'ri weapon," the Jaffa said, not knowing that Hathor had used one of the guns she had acquired from the U.S. airmen she'd enthralled to make it look like the SGC had murdered her rival and shot her as well.

"You are certain of that?" Apophis demanded.

"I saw the wounds with my own two eyes," Bra'tac said, showing no outer sign of anger over how his intelligence had just been insulted.

"And yet, there was no other evidence of the Tau'ri soldiers having been there?" Apophis asked sceptically.

"There were no bodies present other than those of the Jaffa and the natives of the planet, my lord. However, that is not unexpected; in our skirmishes with them, I have seen how the Tau'ri seem to place great importance in recovering their dead and wounded," Bra'tac replied, barely suppressing the desire to shoot his former master with his staff weapon.

"Very well," Apophis growled, unsatisfied but having nothing specific to focus his suspicions upon. "Return to your duties."

Bra'tac bowed and left. Not far away, Klorel and Hathor began to initiate sexual relations for the evening – as both of their hosts tried to close their minds to the horror of their bodies being used and abused that way.

The red-haired queen Goa'uld moaned deeply, as she lowered herself onto her bed partner. As the ancient rhythm began, they began to twist and turn, rutting like animals; Klorel saw Hathor throw her head back in apparent ecstasy at one point, which only fuelled his desire for her further.

When they were done and their lust temporarily sated, the son of Apophis said smugly, "Have I pleased you tonight, my queen?"

"Of course," the naked Hathor replied, even though that was a bare-faced lie; like all self-centred males, Klorel's own pleasure was the only thing he'd been concerned about during their sexual encounter. "And if we may ask, have you considered the request we made of you during the previous evening?"

"I have considered it," Klorel frowned. "There is one thing I fail to understand, however."

"What is it?"

Skaara's eyes flashed white before the Goa'uld controlling him said, "I can understand your desire to destroy the homeworld of the Tau'ri – to wipe out the scourge which has plagued us ever since the demise of Ra. I can even understand your wish to be there personally, to see it happen. But I do not understand your insistence to capture alive the one called Daniel Jackson. Of what possible benefit could that individual be to you?"

Hathor smiled, a sublime and evil smile if there ever was one. ( _You fool. If you were even half as clever as you thought you were, you could answer that question yourself! Fortunately for us, you are not..._ )

But all that Hathor said was, "It was our plan for you to present him as a gift to Apophis, as he would be the perfect target for your father to vent his anger upon. You must admit, he is still very angry over the loss of Amaunet; and we suspect that Apophis is still somewhat suspicious of both you and us, with regard to what happened to her. Such a gesture will restore his faith in your loyalty, at least somewhat."

Klorel nodded his head, accepting that logic. He still hated Apophis for killing him in public back then, so much so that he'd been willing to sacrifice the queen who'd spawned him as part of his plan for revenge, and Hathor had been smart enough to tap into that. So Klorel eventually said, "Very well, I will consider it further and give you an answer in the morning. Now, return to your own bedchambers. I desire privacy to contemplate your words more carefully."

Carefully hiding how insulted she felt, Hathor merely nodded her head. She then got up and left, after getting dressed in a loose, diaphanous robe that left almost nothing to the imagination.

( _He will give us what we desire, one way or another,_ ) Hathor thought to herself arrogantly as she walked down the corridor to her bedroom. ( _And the conceited young idiot will never learn our true plans, until it is far too late..._ )

* * *

**Deep below the streets of Sunnydale, California**

**February 13th, 1998**

Angelus was looking over a map of Sunnydale that was strewn out haphazardly over a table. Frowning, he almost wished he hadn't killed that shopkeeper so quickly a few weeks ago – because right now, he could use someone like that to vent his frustration upon.

"We're getting close, sir. I'm sure of it," one of his vampire lieutenants named Lucas informed Angelus.

The Irish-born vampire barely glanced at him. "That's what you said the last time. Before you almost drilled into someone's septic tank!" Angelus rasped angrily.

"Uh, yes sir. But, um, that was before we got our hands on the ground radar," Lucas said quickly. "The crypt is around here somewhere, I know it."

"All right. If we're that close then make sure no one leaves the lair from now on, I don't want the Slayer trailing anyone here," Angelus ordered.

"Uh, sir? The thing is that the men are hungry, it's been a while since anyone's gone out on the hunt," Lucas said apologetically. "You insisted on everyone working around the clock, remember?"

He never even saw the stake that Angelus angrily plunged into his chest with undead super-speed. As the dust settled onto the floor, though, Angelus cursed himself for his temper – good help was hard to find, and Lucas had been the only minion left over from Spike's regime who'd had even half a brain to begin with.

( _Ah, never mind,_ ) the master vampire thought to himself, looking over the map again. ( _There's always more where he came from, I'll find someone – eventually. That's the up-side of immortality; time means nothing at all._ )

Angelus was suddenly reminded what day it was, though, and was briefly tempted to go nail a puppy to Buffy's front door or something – Valentine's Day always did bring out the 'romantic' side of his character, after all. But then he decided against it.

( _Like I said to that mouthy idiot – if we're that close to the Gem of Amara, then there's no point in taking any chances at this late stage, _) Angelus thought to himself, eyes closed. (_ Soon, soon it'll be mine..._ )

* * *

**The planet eventually known as P2C-257, within two hundred and fifty light-years from Earth**

**February 14th, 1998**

Even though it was Valentine's Day elsewhere, it was just another day here as the Tok'ra vessel crash-landed after being shot at by a Goa'uld Al'kesh ship.

Xander/Lantesh, Cordelia/Jolinar and Saroosh/Selmak had been on their way to Earth via their scout ship, as the negotiators for the Tok'ra with regard to the proposed alliance. Unfortunately, their old Sunnydale luck had caught up with the two teenagers, and now not only was their vessel a flaming ruin – Xander was too severely injured for Lantesh to heal him. The young man was going to die soon enough.

"No, no, NO!" the badly injured Cordelia fought her way past the burning wreckage to get to her boyfriend, Jolinar doing what she could to heal her host. "Damn it, Xander, don't you die on me!!"

"The Death Gliders are approaching," Saroosh told her, the 202-year-old woman looking out the wrecked window before struggling to make her way to her colleagues. "We don't have much time left. We should try to find the local Chappa'ai-"

"Won't do you much good, I'm afraid. The bad guys already have it under heavy guard."

The two injured women turned around, their hand devices pointing at Whistler. "Who are you?" Jolinar demanded, taking in the 1970's clothing.

"Name's Whistler. I'm a balance demon, I work for the Powers That Be," Whistler replied nonchalantly.

"A demon? And the powers that be what?" Selmak asked in confusion.

"That doesn't matter. See, right at the moment – we have two problems. Yours is that you're about to get captured by the black hats and most likely killed; mine is how to maintain the balance without the apocalypse happening. Luckily for you, babe, the Powers have seen fit to intervene, so I've been sent here to prevent you three from dying – but unfortunately, the new game plan means making certain sacrifices.

"Namely, him," Whistler said as he pointed at Xander.

Cordelia instantly moved closer to her lover's side, still pointing her hand device at the balance demon. "Over my dead body!"

"Nope, just the opposite actually. You have to live, sweetheart. Your boyfriend said it himself a few months ago; the Tok'ra are doomed without a queen to jump-start a long-overdue population increase. And funny thing – but you just got drafted for the job, Queen J."

Jolinar screamed out of Cordelia's mouth as the brunette girl collapsed to the floor, her eyes glowing a light green colour instead of yellow-white. Selmak immediately demanded, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?"

Whistler shrugged. "I already told you what I was going to do. Geez, don't you listen?"

As she helped Cordelia up, Saroosh stared at the brunette girl in astonishment. "Is it true? Jolinar – are you still yourself, or are you...?"

"I think I'm – no. This is impossible," the female Tok'ra said in disbelief, clutching at Cordelia's stomach. "A queen cannot simply be manufactured like this! They are born from a queen mother, not created at someone's whim!"

"Guess again, your majesty," Whistler said sardonically. "You can feel 'em now, can't you? All those snake-y eggs inside you, just waiting to be fertilized. And becoming a baby-making factory like this – it's a dirty job, I know, but someone's got to do it..."

"Sure, trust a GUY to say that!" Cordelia snapped. She was still disoriented from everything that had just been done to her symbiote, thanks to the bond they shared.

Whistler ignored her outburst, turning to face Xander. "Which brings us to you, pal."

"NOOO!" Cordelia and Jolinar instantly shouted, reaching for their better half; but it was too late.

One moment, they and Saroosh/Selmak were there – and the next moment they were within the depths of Cheyenne Mountain. Back on P2C-257, Whistler stared sadly at Xander and Lantesh as they expired from their injuries.

"Some days, I really hate this job..."

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**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California**

**February 15th, 1998**

As Buffy and Willow walked towards the library that Monday morning, the redhead asked the blonde, "So how was your weekend?"

"Mom and I had a vid-fest and pigged out on Rocky Road ice cream yesterday. It's a time-honoured tradition among the loveless and all," Buffy replied. "How about you?"

"Uh, Oz asked me to spend Valentine's Day with him, and I – sorta said yes," Willow said excitedly. "We, we had a great time at that new mini-golf place..."

"Go you, Willow," Buffy told her friend happily. "I knew it! I mean, what guy could possibly resist your wily Willow charms?"

The Jewish girl looked rather surprised, "At last count? All of them. Maybe more."

"Trust me, Oz is different. That boy has got it bad for you," Buffy promised her.

"Well, if you say so. And, and y'know, maybe this is exactly what I need – I mean, it's not like I want to be the only girl in school without a boyfriend!" Willow exclaimed, deciding to move on from what had happened with Xander last month. Then she saw Buffy look down dejectedly, and quickly realized how insensitive that remark had been. "Oh, I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't even be talking about...do you want me to go away?"

"No. Please, don't," Miss Summers told her.

"'Kay. How are you holding up, anyway?"

Buffy shrugged, "I'm holding. I was going on two minutes there without thinking about Angel. Thing is that I actually ran into him last week, but he got away after threatening to pay a visit to my mom."

Willow tried to be cheerful, but failed miserably. "Well, then at least – uh, things aren't too bad, right?"

"Yeah. But I'm thinking they'd be a lot better if you and I meet up tonight at the Bronze," Buffy exhaled noisily. Then she frowned. "That's weird – for a moment, I thought about inviting Xander as well before I remembered that he and Cordelia..."

"...are gone," Willow finished up for her, motioning towards the blonde ditz named Harmony Kendall – the cheerleader was holding court with her Harmonettes not far away. Cordelia's former second-in-command had taken her place in the school's social pyramid ever since last year, and looked to be enjoying every single moment of it.

"Harmony would never have put on the crown and taken over otherwise, Buffy. And I betcha that you and I are the only students in this school who remember Xander and Cordelia anymore, what with that weird Sunnydale denial syndrome," Willow declared.

"You think so?" Buffy frowned.

"Yeah, I mean, how long did it take before everyone completely forgot about Jesse?" Willow asked sadly, recalling her and Xander's childhood friend who had been turned into a vampire last year before getting dusted at the Bronze.

"Jesse-? Oh, right, I remember him now," Buffy said sadly, as the memories of her first two days in Sunnydale came back to her. "Yet another person I couldn't save in this town."

"Buffy, come on! You can't blame yourself for every death in Sunnydale! And, and nowadays, the military patrols are doing much better," Willow said, not knowing that with the loss of Richard Wilkins, the previous Sunnydale infrastructure had disintegrated – and there were no more cover-ups or obstructions taking place in order to hide the true nature of the Hellmouth.

"I know. It almost makes me feel redundant," Buffy said, before she focused back on Angelus. ( _He's one problem I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to deal with myself._ )

With that, the two girls finally arrived at the doors to the library and went in. The first thing they saw was Team SG-1 standing alongside Giles and Cordelia; Buffy immediately scowled at Teal'c's presence, as she had yet to forgive what he'd done that night at the mall.

Willow, on the other hand, zeroed in on Cordelia straightaway. All the verbal abuse she wanted to hurl at the brunette suddenly died on her on lips, though, as soon as the redhead saw the look in Cordelia's eyes.

"Xander," Willow said in sudden horror, somehow able to guess the truth.

**

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**A modified Goa'uld Ha'tak ship in orbit around a dead world, in the same quadrant of space as the planet P3R-233**

**The previous day**

Contrary to what had happened earlier within the wreckage of the scout ship, Xander Harris was no longer dead.

He and Lantesh were within a Goa'uld sarcophagus. As soon as it had brought him and the Tok'ra symbiote back from oblivion, the gold coffin-shaped device opened up and Xander quickly heaved himself out of the glowing white interior.

/ _**Lantesh?**_ / Harris asked, confused but no longer hurting in the slightest.

/ _**I am here, Xander,**_ / Lantesh replied. / _**But I feel dirty and unclean. It will take a while for me to recover from the sarcophagus' effect on my psyche, so I will apologize now in advance for anything rude and offensive that I might say or do.**_ /

/ _**Don't worry about it,**_ / Harris told him. / _**Where do you think we are?**_ /

/ _**A Goa'uld facility of some kind, **_/ Lantesh hypothesized, looking around at the gold walls covered in hieroglyphics but with no doors or windows visible. / _**What I would like to know is how we got here, and who placed us in that sarcophagus.**_ /

/ _**Yeah, me too. Hey, wait, what's that?**_ /

/ _**A Tau'ri tape recorder? Most unusual,**_ / Lantesh commented as Xander picked it up off the floor and pressed Play.

"Hey there," Whistler's voice came out of the machine. "I bet you two are wondering what's going on, huh? Well, in a nutshell, you were dead. Both of you. That's why I brought you here – but hey, that's pretty much irrelevant now as far as you're concerned. Because trouble's coming, fellas, and as of this moment onwards – you two are gonna be right in the thick of it. The only other thing I can say is, good luck; and this tape will self-destruct in five seconds! Huh, I always wanted to say that, ever since the Sixties..."

Smoke rose from the tape recorder a few seconds later. Xander thought rather nervously, / _**Okay, I'm thinking we get the hell outta Dodge right now! **_/

/ _**Agreed,**_ / Lantesh told him. / _**Look for a door, it should be disguised somewhere within the walls...**_ /

But before Harris could do that, the hidden door opened – and in strode Hathor, as her Jaffa guards took up their positions outside her chambers aboard the ship.

"Well, well, well. We were not expecting to see YOU again – at least, not within our personal chambers," Hathor smirked, and then she blasted the male Tok'ra into the wall with her hand device.

( _Ah, crap,_ ) Xander managed to cogitate feebly as he fell to the floor, fighting not to pass out from the savage impact of his head against the wall. ( _This is turning out to be a really bad day..._ )

TBC...


	8. Inquisitions

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. Howdy all, and as always a big thanks/gracias/merci/danke/xie xie etc. to all our faithful readers and reviewers! Hmm, the previous chapter seemed to generate a lot of feedback about Whistler for some reason, most of it being pretty negative. We're not quite sure why, although it might have something to do with that old saying: hell is a state of mind, being trapped in fear, lost in the journey of life. Anyway, here is the latest chapter of the fanfic - we hope you enjoy it!

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**Chapter Eight: Inquisitions**

**Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California**

**February 15th, 1998**

Daniel, Sam, Teal'c and Jack were talking to Giles in the librarian's private office. Buffy had left to go to class, after having settled her issues with Teal'c in private; and not far away outside in the deserted corridor, Willow approached Cordelia. She likewise felt that there were quite a few issues to be addressed between them.

Cordelia was staring at a utility closet. There was an extra dent in the door, and some paint had begun to chip away, but essentially the closet was just as she remembered it from three months ago. "We came here once or twice to make out. Xander and me."

Cordy turned around to face Willow, knowing exactly who was behind her. "That was when it was all just hormones, though. Before I fell in love with him."

"YOU fell in love with Xander?!" Willow couldn't help the note of incredulity in her voice. After all, Miss Rosenberg thought that the only thing the Chase girl could love was shopping sprees at Nordstrom's or Neiman-Marcus or wherever.

"Is it so impossible for you to believe that my host is capable of love, Willow?" Jolinar's voice sounded curious more than anything else.

"Well, why should I believe that?" Willow asked the female Tok'ra peevishly. "I mean, Cordelia and her flock always tormented Xander and me, ever since the first day of kindergarten!"

"Yeah, you're right," Cordy admitted candidly as she took over. "We got off to a really bad start in life, because back then, I was a completely spoiled brat. It took me a long time to figure out that I was the one who had a problem, not you and Xander."

"I..." Willow started to say, with a completely dumbfounded expression on her face.

"Even back then, my parents had taught me that, basically, you didn't matter unless you had money and power," Cordelia went on. "I guess I never really understood what kind of people they were, until I came back to Sunnydale and found out all about their tax fraud. But the fact that I know better now still doesn't excuse what I did for all those years – so I'm sorry for the way I used to treat you and Xander, Willow," Cordy said. "My boyfriend's already forgiven me for it, but I'm hoping you can get past all that as well. Because I'd like for us to be friends one day."

"F-f-friends?" Willow stammered, this conversation hadn't gone like she'd thought it would at all.

Cordelia stared Willow right in the eye, giving her former classmate goosebumps. "Yeah. Because you and Buffy and Giles, you're Xander's real family. That's why all your opinions are still important to him – yours, most of all. And what matters to him matters to me, what affects him affects me in the 'significant other' sort of way."

"Assuming that Xander's still alive," Willow said painfully, recalling what had been said earlier about Whistler and the whole sacrifice thing.

"Yes, assuming that," Jolinar spoke up. "But once we find Xander and Lantesh, it is our hope that you will accept the situation for what it is and clear the air between you and your oldest friend. Especially since given my circumstances as the new Tok'ra queen, it is highly doubtful that Xander will be free to return to your planet at any point in the near future. Fighting the Goa'uld and finding trustworthy Jaffa to carry my spawn will keep all the Tok'ra busy for a long time to come, I'm sure."

"No offense, but that mental image is just – ewww," Willow tried not to shudder.

Then she straightened up, as thoughts of Oz came into her mind and the red-haired female teenager made a momentous decision regarding her future. "Okay, lemme just say this to you, Cordy. I don't know why, precisely, but I'm pretty sure that Xander really does care about you nowadays; and you certainly seem different-"

"I am," Cordelia interrupted. "After blending with Jolinar, it's impossible for me not to be. I mean, do you remember the day you and the others first discovered me and Xander kissing? Less than two minutes before, I'd called both you and him complete losers directly to his face, and I really meant what I'd said!"

( _Well, that sure doesn't surprise me!_ ) Willow thought to herself in annoyance before saying, "Right, anyway, so I'm gonna give Xander the benefit of the doubt concerning all this – and once we find him, I'll tell him that I'm okay now with the concept of him and...you."

She went on, "But I wanna make sure that you understand that if you ever hurt Xander, in any way shape or form, then no matter where you try to hide – I'll track you down and make the rest of your life a living hell, Tok'ra queen or otherwise. Got that?"

Cordelia took in the sight of the other girl's eyes, which were almost ablaze with fire – and suddenly gave her an impromptu hug, uncaring if anyone might see them doing that in public. "I guess when Xander and I eventually get around to having children, the choice of godmother is pretty much gonna be a no-brainer, huh?"

The unexpected shock factor was enough to make Willow immediately faint in Cordelia's arms.

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**Klorel's Ha'tak ship in orbit around a dead world, in the same quadrant of space as the planet P3R-233**

**The same time**

Strapped down to a chair of some sort, Xander winced as Hathor pressed a coin-like device into his right temple. It buzzed as it was implanted into him and then Harris asked, "What is that?"

"New technology that has recently been developed," Hathor smirked, tapping the implant. "This device stimulates the memory centers of your mind and amplifies your thoughts. And this device here, projects what the mind's eye is seeing holographically." She moved over to a Goa'uld computer console where she placed her right hand onto the most prominent crystal. It lit up, and then a flat, table-like screen right next to Xander's chair did so as well.

"And now, all that remains is for you to focus your thoughts and guide the appropriate memories to the surface for us to witness them," Hathor told her prisoner, the smirk never once leaving her face.

"Uh-huh. And I'm going to do that, why?" Xander asked pleasantly.

Hathor reached down and picked up the same Goa'uld pain stick she had used on Amaunet, back on Abydos. "Would you really prefer for us to use this on you again? Granted, you are able to endure much more than Amaunet ever did – but even your physical endurance has limits, I'm sure."

"Amaunet? I remember her. And according to my information, she took Daniel Jackson's wife as a host less than a year ago," Lantesh spoke up. "Thus, given the nature of the Goa'uld – Sha're Jackson is dead now, isn't she?"

"Was that the name of the host? Such trivialities were beneath our notice, especially after Klorel and ourselves witnessed the extermination of her people," Hathor replied with another smirk, not caring if her prisoner knew the truth. One, because she was planning to kill him soon enough and two, Apophis would never believe him anyway if Xander/Lantesh ever mentioned anything to the System Lord. "Now, let us begin."

Hathor injected some sort of drug into Xander's neck, and despite Lantesh's best efforts to counteract it his host's mental defences began to go down. / _**Xander! Fight it!**_ /

/ _**I'm trying!**_ / Harris thought back at him desperately.

"Where is the location of the Tok'ra base?" Hathor demanded, as the holographic display appeared on top of the glowing screen. The scene was fuzzy and indistinct; all that the female Goa'uld could see clearly was the desert sands of Vorash. "Where is it? We want the Chappa'ai co-ordinates of the world where you have hidden yourselves. You will give us that information!"

"No...I...won't. This...won't...do you...any good," Xander managed to gasp out, somehow gaining strength from the remains of the Primal Hyena spirit within his mind to resist the drugs and the device attached to the exterior of his head.

"You are strong. But the memory recall device is stronger!" Hathor growled, the smirk finally disappearing. The crystal in her hand device glowed, as the Goa'uld queen upped the power; but still, all she could see was the shifting sands of the desert.

Frustrated, in the end Hathor furiously deactivated the device and yanked out the implant. She then switched tactics and smiled charmingly, "This need not be unpleasant – Lantesh, is it not? We are prepared to offer you forgiveness and a life of luxury as a servant in our royal court, for sharing the desired information. Deny us, however, and you will not enjoy the alternative."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Xander quipped, the pain in his head starting to clear up. "I mean, me serve you? My girlfriend would castrate me, and that's just for starters!!"

"And did you honestly believe that my host and I would not know that you plan to kill us when we are of no further use to you?" Lantesh asked. "If so, then it appears your reputation is vastly overrated."

The red-haired woman's eyes flashed brightly in her anger, the unnatural light giving her face a sinister cast for a brief moment. "Have you forgotten our promise on the Tau'ri homeworld all those months ago, that one day you would pay for your insolence? It seems the last two thousand years has seen the erosion of proper respect for one's elders, if nothing else!"

"You are not my elder, at least not by any significant length of time," Lantesh told Hathor. "And even if you did manage to acquire the information you seek, I was with two of my fellow Tok'ra before I was somehow delivered to you. What do you believe the odds are that the rest of my people will have transferred to a different base on a new world by now?"

Hathor snarled incoherently for a moment. "If what you say is true, then what reason do we have to keep you alive any longer?" Then something extremely unexpected happened; she smiled and sat down on Xander's lap, giving him a full view of those magnificent, gravity-defying breasts.

( _Here we go again. No matter where I go, there's always some beautiful-looking yet evil woman wanting to kill and/or mate with me. You can take the boy out of Sunnydale, but not Sunnydale out of the boy..._ ) Xander thought nervously.

/ _**Quiet!**_ / Lantesh hissed at him impatiently. / _**Xander, this is NOT the time!**_ /

"Ah, yes, of course! There is one reason not to kill you yet – the complete and utter destruction of the Tau'ri homeworld. You will watch, Tok'ra, as our Ha'tak vessels reduce your host's planet into rubble and ashes. In fact, we will to see to it that you have an uninterrupted view of the entire proceedings," Hathor promised her captive.

At that moment, Xander remembered how he had witnessed the Goa'uld destroy that world which had refused to accept them as gods – which was enough to send a deep rage surging through his brain, over how this evil bitca might do the exact same thing to Earth.

( _DAMN YOU TO HELL, YOU FUCKING SNAAAAKE!!_ ) the young man thought fiercely to himself, struggling pointlessly to get loose.

/ _**Save your strength, Xander,**_ / Lantesh advised him as Hathor got off of his lap with another evil smile and she grabbed the pain stick again. / _**I greatly fear that you will soon need it...**_ /

**

* * *

**

**Deep beneath the streets of Sunnydale, California**

**February 19th, 1998**

It had taken nearly a week, much longer than he had initially expected, but at last – Angelus had tunnelled his way into the long-buried crypt containing the fabled Gem of Amara.

"At last," the former Angel growled, holding up a lantern and staring around at the contents of the crypt. He did not notice that the hired help had all deserted him, starving wrecks that they were; Angelus only had eyes for a large green gem in an ornate necklace around the neck of a skeleton.

"There you are!" he said greedily, yanking it off the skeleton. Angelus put the necklace around his neck, and then went to grab a nearby cross. Unfortunately, he had to withdraw his hand immediately as he snarled from the pain, the sacred icon burning Angelus's hand at once.

"It's the wrong one?!" Angelus threw away the necklace in disgust. The vampire was briefly grateful that there were no minions present to witness his little slip, as he systematically started investigating the other contents of the crypt.

Thus, it wasn't long before Angelus discovered the brass ring containing the REAL Gem of Amara.

( _Oh Buffy, sweetheart,_ ) Angelus thought to himself, with an evil smile on his lips as he held the cross without harm. ( _Now the fun can actually begin..._ )

**

* * *

**

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado**

**February 20th, 1998**

While Angelus had taken a walk in the sunlight for the first time ever, and Hathor had tortured her prisoner relentlessly – even killing Xander/Lantesh and bringing them back with her sarcophagus once or twice – things had started to heat up elsewhere as well.

SG-1 had been exploring an alien Stargate complex on P3R-233, a world that appeared to have been destroyed by the Goa'uld recently, and Daniel had discovered a slab of rock that functioned as a quantum mirror – a doorway between alternate realities, where history had turned out different in every single one.

Jackson had subsequently found himself in one such alternate reality after passing through the mirror, a place that had looked a lot like his own universe but where nothing was exactly as it was supposed to be. The biggest difference between the two realities had been that that Earth had come under attack by the Goa'uld, and the evil aliens had slaughtered billions of people and eventually invaded Stargate Command.

Daniel had escaped through the Stargate at the last moment with information that could hopefully save his Earth from the fate of that alternate reality, passing through the quantum mirror and bearing the Gate address from which the Goa'uld had launched their attack.

The only problem was, it was kind of hard for anyone to believe his story.

"'Beware the destroyers', that's what the message said – as well as the co-ordinates where the Goa'uld came from," Daniel said as he gave Sam the piece of paper he was holding. "It was a warning-"

"And you're sure it wasn't all due to some kind of wacky tobacky you might have encountered?" Jack interrupted.

"Yes, Jack! It, it wasn't a vision or a dream or a hallucination. It was real! Look, I know this is hard for you guys to believe. But I swear to you, the entire time you thought I had disappeared, I was experiencing an alternate reality!" Daniel insisted.

"Daniel. It's not that we don't believe you..." Sam started to say.

"So you do believe me?" Daniel asked.

"I don't, to be honest with you," O'Neill admitted.

"Jack..." Daniel looked exasperated and annoyed.

"How then do you explain DanielJackson's injuries from a staff weapon, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked. "As far as I know there were no such weapons on P3R-233 other than my own, and it never left my sight the entire time we were there."

"Sure, bring that up!" Jack looked irritated at the Jaffa.

"Given everything I have heard described so far, it is possible that in this alternate reality, the Goa'uld arrived on Earth somewhat earlier than has happened here," Teal'c noted.

"Right! In fact, Teal'c wasn't part of the SGC there – he actually led the invasion as Apophis' First Prime, which might account for the whole timing thing. And, and there were other differences – like, I was never part of the program either! Plus no one had ever heard of the Tok'ra, and Sam and Jack were engaged to be married..." Daniel babbled without thinking.

"WHAT?" both O'Neill and Carter shouted at the same time, a look of shock on both their faces. Not only because such a thing was totally against regulations, but also because neither of these two wanted to acknowledge the sexual attraction that had existed between them almost since day one.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot – Sam...you, you weren't part of the military there," Daniel said to the USAF captain.

Sam exchanged a look with Jack before saying, "Okay, but uh, doesn't the fact that there were such differences – BIG differences – between that reality and ours mean that we might not face the same fate here?"

"Well, yes. But the defining event, the death of Ra, that took place in both universes," Daniel tried to explain. Not knowing about the Amaunet factor, of course, which also played a big part in Apophis' plans.

Teal'c got it at once. "The attack there was, and here will be, an act of retribution."

"Right! Unless we stop it, somehow. I think we should go to these Gate co-ordinates-" Jackson started to say.

At that moment, Giles, Willow and Buffy arrived outside Daniel's office. "Ah, are we interrupting anything of vital import?" the British man asked after knocking on the open door.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jack asked in surprise.

"Actually, I called Rupert last night. I wanted to tap into his knowledge concerning alternate realities," Daniel explained. "Apparently, he and the Watchers Council know a lot more about this sort of thing than we do."

"They do?" O'Neill seemed even more surprised to hear that.

"Yes, uh, there have been a number of documented incidents – the world without shrimp, the world containing nothing but shrimp..." Giles shrugged.

"No shrimp, you say," Jack remarked, looking as if he was humouring the Watcher. "Err, what about lobsters or crayfish?"

"Very funny, ha-ha," Buffy resisted the urge to childishly stick out her tongue at him.

"And the reason you two came along is-?" Sam raised her eyebrows at Willow and Buffy, ignoring the wisecracking.

"We wanted to get in touch with Cordelia. See if she has any news about Xander," Buffy replied.

"Should you not both be in school?" Teal'c inquired.

Willow answered, "It's a Friday, the weekend's coming up – and, and these days the Initiative seems to be handling things okay on the Slayage front. So our parents think we've come here with Giles on a field trip – y'know, to see if we'd like enlisting in the Air Force one day."

"Well, it's no worse an excuse than the one you used last time," Jack shrugged, recalling that particular weekend.

"So, is there? A-any news?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, yeah, there is. Right now, we could be facing the end of the world," Daniel said urgently.

The three Sunnydale residents looked at each other, and then said in perfect unison:

"AGAIN?"

**

* * *

**

**Klorel's Ha'tak ship in orbit around a dead world, in the same quadrant of space as the planet P3R-233**

**February 22nd, 1998**

"Klorel! Kel ma," the image of Apophis said angrily on the bridge viewscreen, which roughly translated to 'the time grows short'. "Why is your vessel not yet prepared for departure?"

Klorel looked down subserviently for a moment. "Kel Apophis, the preparations are almost complete. Hathor is continuing to interrogate the Tok'ra prisoner-"

"That is irrelevant," Apophis cut him off sharply. "Not to mention unwise, at least without your presence. Beware her potential for treachery, my son – Ra banished and imprisoned her for a reason."

"I have not forgotten, Father," Klorel replied, even though the warning fell on deaf ears.

"Very well. Then return to your sarcophagus, once the Tok'ra captive is secured and Hathor is surrounded by your own personal guard. I will contact you again via the long-range communicator, when it is time." Apophis abruptly terminated the connection without so much as a farewell or bon voyage.

"Ha'taaka," Klorel cursed his father, before storming out of the ship's bridge. His First Prime Bra'tac followed close behind, as the Goa'uld headed for the interrogation center.

"Ma'kree!" Klorel ordered Hathor to give him a status report, once he had arrived within the room where Xander/Lantesh was being held.

The Goa'uld queen stared at her nominal consort, before gesturing to the unconscious prisoner. "This go'tak still has not yielded any useful information. And by now, he is sure to have been missed; even assuming he lied about being with other Tok'ra at the time of his capture."

"Very well. Bra'tac!" Klorel shouted, summoning his primary servant.

"My lord Klorel," the aged master Jaffa stepped forward.

"Are the preparations for our departure complete?"

"If they are not, I will personally execute those responsible," Bra'tac replied, lowering the serpent guard helmet into his Jaffa suit of armour as protocol demanded.

"Do so – and take care of this pathetic traitor to his own kind. After that, escort my queen to her chambers. When it is time for Apophis to contact us, you will attend to placing my sarcophagus before the Chappa'ai!" So saying, Klorel strode out of the interrogation room.

Bra'tac gestured to two of his Jaffa warriors, who he had trained since childhood and who were personally loyal to him, instead of the Goa'uld – just like his former apprentice, Teal'c. As the pair of Jaffa accompanied Hathor out of the room, he grabbed Xander's body and roughly dragged it along the floor to the nearest prison cell.

Less than five minutes later, Daniel and Teal'c arrived via the Stargate that had been put on board the ship for transporting various crates and containers – the Gate co-ordinates Daniel had acquired from that other universe led here, just like in the alternate reality – and then both Ha'tak vessels went into hyperspace, heading directly for Earth.

The countdown to Armageddon had finally begun...

TBC...


	9. Endgame

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. Hello all, first off we'd just like to thank everyone yet again who's read and reviewed and emailed us about the story; feedback, we crave it like you wouldn't believe. THANK YOU! For everyone who's wanted to see Senator Kinsey show up, your patience shall now be rewarded - along with all those who wanted to see what Angelus would get up to with the Gem. And we should mention, it's time to start wrapping this particular story up – there's only one more chapter left to go after this one, and then it's time to move on to other projects. So without further ado, we present the penultimate chapter of 'Time For Change'...

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Nine: Endgame**

**A prison cell within Klorel's Ha'tak ship, in orbit around Earth**

**February 22nd, 1998**

Xander and Lantesh did not know that Daniel and Teal'c had arrived on board the ship as part of an unauthorized mission to prevent the Goa'uld attack on Earth.

They likewise didn't know that the Jaffa and the archaeologist had discovered that they were trapped here after the launch into hyperspace; the Stargate could no longer connect back to Earth, as the point of origin was no longer valid.

Trapped and alone, Xander and Lantesh had their own problems right now.

/ _**Hathor and Klorel are gonna destroy Earth, we both heard 'em say it. Damn it, there's gotta be something we can do to stop them!**_ / Xander thought angrily.

/ _**Unfortunately, I cannot think of anything,**_ / Lantesh replied mournfully.

/ _**Terrific,**_ / Harris thought dejectedly. / _**You**_ _**know, I never thought I'd say this, but where's a demon to digest you in its stomach when you need one?!**_ /

They both lapsed into mental silence. Later, the sound of boots and Jaffa armour clanking loudly could be heard outside the cell. Soon enough, the serpent guards showed up and threw inside the unconscious bodies of Daniel and Teal'c.

"Dr. Jackson? Teal'c?!" Xander tried to rouse the new inmates once the guards had left. "Wake up! It's me, Xander Harris. Are you guys okay?"

"I am blind, however it will pass. Although extremely painful, the effects of a Goa'uld shock grenade are only temporary," Teal'c said, staring at nothing.

"It doesn't matter. We've failed," Daniel spoke up miserably, likewise staring at nothing.

"Failed? Failed what? What's happened?" Xander asked. "How did you two get here, anyway?"

"We arrived through the Stargate aboard this ship," Daniel told him. "And now, I figure we're going to die here."

"You mean – there's nobody that's, uh, gonna come to the rescue?" Xander asked, his heart sinking. "You two are it?"

"Indeed," Teal'c replied, as his eyesight finally started to recover.

"Where are Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter?" Lantesh asked.

"They're still on Earth, they couldn't make it here with us," Daniel said as his own eyesight came back. "General Hammond called them in for something related to shutting down the Stargate program, just as we were about to make our move."

"The SGC is being shut down? Why?" Xander wanted to know.

"Politics and budget cuts," Jackson said morosely. "There was a hearing with this Senator Kinsey guy, and – well, I guess the details don't really matter at this point, do they?"

"I guess not. So, would you guys know if Cordelia and Jolinar are okay, by any chance? And Saroosh and Selmak, while we're at it?" Xander asked, focusing on what was important to him.

"Both your Tok'ra associates eventually left Earth, after they somehow appeared out of nowhere within the base," Teal'c said, turning to face him. "And I should mention that BuffySummers, RupertGiles and WillowRosenberg were at Stargate Command as well, when we left."

"What? What were they doing there?" Xander said in surprise.

"They arrived after DanielJackson made inquiries of RupertGiles concerning alternate realities," the Jaffa told him, which explained nothing to Harris or his symbiote.

"Wait. Someone's coming," Daniel said, as he heard footsteps. Soon, to everyone's surprise – Bra'tac came in.

"YOU!!" Lantesh suddenly snarled in sheer hatred, recognizing the same Jaffa that had been responsible for capturing himself and Jolinar on Chulak – back when their hosts had been Martouf and Rosha, and all this had truly begun.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Daniel said hurriedly, as he and Teal'c struggled to restrain the inhumanly strong male Tok'ra from doing something foolish – especially with Bra'tac's two acolytes aiming their staff weapons at him.

"I'll calm down when this Jaffa is dead!" Lantesh shouted, even though he ceased fighting against Teal'c and Daniel after Xander had pleaded with him not to do anything that would get them killed. As the two members of SG-1 finally let go the symbiote added, "When he was First Prime to Apophis seventy years ago, this one helped kill my former host! And that of my mate as well!"

"I know that you are Tok'ra, but exactly who are you?" Bra'tac demanded, his eyes narrowed into slits. Despite all the time that had passed, he did not know this information as the Goa'uld had never used Lantesh's name in his presence.

Bra'tac turned to his former student and said, "Teal'c. What is his name?"

"Tek ma'te, Bra'tac. This is Lantesh, offspring of Egeria," Teal'c unknowingly used the same words the Tok'ra had used back in 1928.

Bra'tac's eyes widened, as the memories finally came back and he stared at Xander's physical form. "Can this be true? I witnessed Apophis consign the canopic jars containing you and – what was her name, Jolinar? – into the depths of the Chappa'ai..."

"Okay, can I ask something? Namely, what's going on and what you're doing here?" Daniel cut in.

"Be silent, human!" Bra'tac whirled to face him angrily. "By coming here, you have doomed your world and its people. I may have been able to save your planet, had you and Teal'c not interfered with my plans!"

( _Plans? What plans? No, never mind..._ ) "Look, assuming you really have changed sides and came to break us out of here? Then I think we should get going," Xander interrupted, ignoring Lantesh's still-angry thoughts concerning the aged Jaffa.

"Indeed, this is not the place for us to talk. I have been ordered by Apophis himself to execute you two," Bra'tac gestured to Daniel and Teal'c. "An order I intend to disregard. Come!"

With that, the entire group hurriedly left the prison area, as the situation finally started to look up a little for the white hats.

**

* * *

**

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado**

**A few minutes later**

General Hammond was studying a computer screen showing the two Goa'uld motherships in orbit. He asked, "They still haven't moved from their position?"

Harriman shook his head. "No, sir. Oh, uh, General? The first group on the Alpha site list has just arrived," Walter said after looking at his computer console.

"Thank you, Sergeant. Well, I guess I better get to it." Hammond made his way to the Gate room and stood before a group of people, his back to the Stargate.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as you have all been made aware, this nation, this entire world, faces a deadly threat. That's why you have all volunteered for a mission intended to preserve humankind. You've been chosen because you represent the best and the brightest we have in all fields of expertise. What you have not yet been told, for reasons of security, is where you're going or how you're going to get there."

The Stargate roared into life behind Hammond with a loud 'kawoosh' sound, causing the people before him to gasp in shocked awe.

"You're going to step through that. Once through the Stargate, you will find yourselves on the opposite side of this galaxy. A place we call the Alpha site. If we do not prevail, you, and those that follow, will call it 'home'. A new Earth, and a new beginning for humankind. Godspeed," Hammond saluted the group and stepped aside.

The first Alpha site evacuees slowly walked up the ramp and disappeared through the Stargate. Hammond then turned to Buffy, Willow and Giles, who were standing at his side. "For the record, my offer for you three to evacuate to the Alpha site is still open."

"Forget it," Buffy said at once, shaking her head. "I'm not leaving without my mom!"

"I...I can't either. Not without Oz," Willow confessed.

"And I-I fail to see what contribution I could make there," Giles told the general. "My place is here, a-alongside my Slayer."

"I think you underestimate yourself, Mr. Giles, but to each his own," Hammond said with a slight smile.

Willow, who had been practicing the whole magic thing more and more lately, briefly ignited a small fireball in her hand. "You betcha!"

The four quickly made their way out of the Gate room. A short time later, when the second wave of evacuees was ready to go through, Senator Robert Kinsey stormed into the control room. No one was pleased to see him as the born-again right-wing fundamentalist was no friend of Stargate Command, and especially no fan of SG-1.

Kinsey demanded scathingly, "What's the meaning of this?! General, I thought I told you that this program was to be shut down immediately, the colossal waste of money and the threat to this nation thanks to that alien monstrosity-"

"Who is this jerk?" Buffy asked loudly, interrupting Kinsey's tirade.

"Miss Summers, this is Robert Kinsey – the Senator of Indiana, and the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee," Hammond made an effort not to smile at how purple the politician's face had become.

"Oh, so this is the guy who wanted us to bury our heads in the sand and cut ourselves off from the rest of the universe?" Willow scowled at the older man. "The poophead who thought God was going to protect us, if the Goa'uld showed up?"

"What are these, these CHILDREN doing here?!" Kinsey demanded of Hammond, his eyes almost bulging out in fury as George struggled not to laugh out loud.

"If I may, Senator Kinsey-" Giles started to say.

"Be quiet!! Whoever you are, get out of my sight – and take these two inappropriately dressed harlots with you!!" Kinsey shouted angrily, temporarily losing all sense of judgement.

"Oh, that's it-!" Buffy growled, and Giles only barely restrained her from punching the man unconscious.

"In feles corpus transmuta!" Willow declared in Latin, and after a brief flash of light, Kinsey had turned into a white Persian cat that started meowing loudly. The rest of the SGC staff in the room all stopped and stared as, apart from Hammond, none of them could believe what had just happened.

"Ooh, he's so adorable now!" Willow giggled as she picked up the feline and petted it.

"Willow..." Buffy started to say uncertainly, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a man walking up the ramp towards the Stargate through the control room window. She tore herself away from Giles, and just before the olive green-clad figure walked through the Stargate along with the other evacuees, he turned around to glance at her.

Angelus.

"Buffy, what's wro-" her Watcher started to say, before the blonde Chosen One raced out of the control room. With a speed that belied her petite and delicate-looking frame, Buffy tore into the Gate room and went through the Stargate, none of the SF guards having any hope of stopping her.

"ANGEL!!" Buffy shouted, once she had exited the Stargate on P3X-984. She felt a little Gate-sick, the same way almost everyone did after their first time through the Chappa'ai, but due to her nature as the Slayer she was able to fight it off almost immediately.

"What's going on-?" one of the SGC people demanded, before Angelus grabbed him by the neck and twisted viciously. With a loud CRACK! the USAF major's neck was broken, and the civilian evacuees all screamed and started running for the treeline.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Angelus gestured to the alien yellow sun in the sky, which did not affect him in the slightest. "I always wanted to see you in the daylight, lover. But is it me, or are you looking a little worn around the eyes there...?"

"Why the hell aren't you bursting into flames?" Buffy demanded, pulling out a stake.

"Simple, sweetheart. The Gem of Amara. Makes me immune to staking, beheading, fire, and oh yeah – sunlight," Angelus said with a sadistic grin, holding up his right hand and wiggling the finger containing the ring with the green gem on it.

Just then, Sam and Jack came through the Stargate. O'Neill was in a foul mood, not having been able to go with Daniel and Teal'c on their mission and then having witnessed the two Goa'uld ships come to destroy his planet; so as soon as he saw the major's dead body Jack whipped out his sidearm and double-tapped Angelus directly in the forehead.

"You people will never learn," the soulless vampire smirked as the bloody holes closed up without a trace, he was able to ignore the brief stinging pain caused by the bullets. Also ignoring the open astonishment of both the colonel and the captain, Angelus then knocked them out cold.

"Don't worry, they're not dead," Angelus said pleasantly to the flabbergasted Slayer. "Believe me, Buff, I'm going to take my time and enjoy raping her and crucifying him – after we settle things between us, of course."

"How the heck did you even get here?!" Buffy moved into a combat stance.

"You mean, once I followed you and your friends to Colorado? I heard rumours that the end of the world was nigh, after I turned one of the idiots who worked inside that damn mountain. Afterwards, my boy smuggled me into the complex – and I have to admit, it's been fun actually killing someone on a brand new planet!" Angelus said with a huge grin.

"You..." Buffy couldn't seem to find the right words to express her feelings. "That's it. As soon as that gem is history, so are you!"

Angelus chortled, "Who are you trying to kid, Buff? You can't do it. You can't kill me-"

"After all the people you've killed over the past month, especially Giles' girlfriend? That was then, this is now!"

And with that, the fight was on.

Angelus ducked the stake as it flashed down, before he spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to the Slayer's face. Buffy staggered to the side as she dropped the stake, but then she recovered and quickly delivered a series of powerful blows to his gut. She ended the attack with a brutal punch to the vampire's face.

But Angelus wasn't even fazed by it, and lunged at her. She grabbed his arm and tossed him to the ground, but he immediately got back up. The Chosen One kicked him in the face and again in the chest, and this time Angelus staggered backward. Buffy pulled out another stake and stood ready to finish the job, after coming within striking distance.

Angelus straightened up and faced her. He smirked when he saw the Summers girl just stand there, "I knew that you couldn't do it, not that you ever had the slightest-"

WHAM! Whatever else he was going to say to her was abruptly cut off by the introduction of Buffy's foot to his groin, in a most prodigious manner. There was so much power behind the kick that Angelus was actually lifted almost eight inches off the ground, before once more landing on his feet with a slight thump.

Angelus just stared at her blankly for a brief moment, and then he let out something that was between a squeak and a grunt as his eyes slowly crossed. For one timeless second, Buffy and Angelus just stood facing each other, neither moving nor saying anything.

Angelus's face, which had vamped out sometime during their fight, then reverted to normal. Those now-human, watering, crossed eyes, which had gone wide even before the pain registered, stared into nothingness as what rather looked like a constipated expression formed upon his handsome features.

Then the vampire grunted deep in his throat, before instinct kicked in and he grabbed his groin in a buckled posture that all males throughout the galaxy were familiar with. That was just before he fell backwards with a dull thud, body still pulled into that instinctive groin shield.

The entire time two very angry and confused lines of thought kept running through Angelus's evil, twisted, undead mind.

The first could be best expressed as, "OW, OW, OW! SON OF A BITCH!" Though it did occasionally include other curses and threats, many of which were aimed not only at Buffy but also the Gem's creators.

The second was more of an angry expression of his sheer disbelief, expressed generically as, "Why the HELL didn't that thing protect me against a kick to the nuts?! Were those bastards who made it women or what?!"

After what seemed an eternity the pain slowly began to recede, and Angelus noticed that he had finally regained control of his voice. So the vampire immediately shouted the first thing that popped into his head.

"YOU KICKED ME IN THE BALLS!" he shouted at Buffy, as if she weren't entirely aware of that fact. "YOU BITCH!" Rocking back and forth, Angelus said it again and again, as if he still couldn't believe she'd done it. "What the hell?!"

Meanwhile Buffy just stared at him, a stream of tears making their way down her cheeks. The pain in her heart was all the more evident as she angrily swiped at her traitorous eyes. Not once did Miss Summers look away from him, though, all the while she kept trying to remind herself that this wasn't the man she loved, not anymore.

Finally, after another thirty seconds, Angelus seemed to regain control over his own body. Grunting, he slid back and sat up, wincing slightly even as he smirked up at Buffy. "Can't do it, huh? You have me at your mercy, and you still can't finish it. You're pathetic!"

Angelus laughed cruelly. "I can see why ANGEL liked you so much. He was always pathetic, too!"

"Shut up!" the blonde girl snapped, her eyes flashing with a mix of pain and anger that had the vampire smiling viciously. Still she didn't do anything but stand there, holding her stake and glaring at him.

Forcing himself to his feet, Angelus took great care in dusting himself off, before he looked toward the sky for a moment. "Well, it's getting late. I'd love to stick around and play with you some more," he told her with a leer, "but I have a whole galaxy to rape and terrorize, starting with those two over there. So I'll just-"

Without warning Buffy darted forward, grabbed his right arm, and yanked the ring off his finger in one smooth motion. She then transitioned flawlessly into a spinning backhand strike, slamming the stake in her fist home through Angelus's back, even as he was just beginning to burst into flames.

And then, after performing her sacred duty of protecting the human race, the Slayer finally fell to her own knees, tears of tortured despair running down her cheeks as the ashes rained down gently on the alien soil.

**

* * *

**

**Klorel's Ha'tak ship, in orbit around Earth**

**The same time**

"Halt!"

The Goa'uld voice was enough to make the group turn around, and both the Jaffa and Daniel (whose weapons had been returned by now) took aim at the lone male standing there in ancient Egyptian clothing. They would have opened fire as well, if Lantesh hadn't shouted, "Wait! Khorem, is that you?"

"Fortunately for you, yes," the undercover Tok'ra spy on the ship hurried over and joined the group. "I had heard that you were aboard, Lantesh. Forgive me for not coming to your rescue, but I was unable to do so without being discovered and getting imprisoned alongside you."

"That doesn't matter now, old friend." Lantesh gestured to the others, "Khorem, this is-"

"Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Bra'tac and his personal guard. Yes, I know," the host said rapidly. "Do you have some sort of plan to escape, by any chance?"

"Yeah, but dude, you've gotta leave this ship as well while you still can," Xander told him urgently. "We've got explosives placed to destroy it, in approximately...?"

"Sixteen minutes," Daniel checked his watch, wishing that he and Teal'c hadn't set the automatic timers with such a narrow safety margin after they'd arrived aboard.

"We should head for the Chappa'ai, then. Get word to my counterpart on board the Ha'tak of Apophis, and make our way to the new base on Abydos," Khorem told his fellow Tok'ra.

"Wait, wait, Abydos? What are you talking about?" Daniel demanded. "The Stargate there was buried not long after Sha're and Skaara were taken as hosts!"

"Uh, Dr. Jackson? I'm sorry, but I've sorta got some bad news concerning what's happened there recently..." Xander trailed off, as he knew that this wasn't the best time to tell the man that his wife was dead and her people wiped out.

"We have no time for this!" Bra'tac said fiercely.

"I concur. There is now only one option in order to prevent Hathor, Klorel and Apophis from destroying the Tau'ri homeworld – taking control of this ship, and ramming it into the other Ha'tak vessel just as it explodes," Teal'c said.

"A daring plan," Bra'tac nodded approvingly.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute. Aren't these ships supposed to be heavily shielded?" Daniel demanded.

"They are. Therefore we need to destroy the shield generators of both vessels in order to succeed," Teal'c said bluntly.

"I will see to the ones on this craft, and then bring my partner aboard in order for us to depart," Khorem volunteered. "Lantesh?"

"I will stay with them," Lantesh gestured to the others. "They will need all the help they can get in order to prevent the destruction of Earth."

"Good luck!" Khorem nodded, before hurrying off.

"Come!" Bra'tac led the way to the bridge. Once there he said to the others, "I will enter. You will follow when it is time."

"You're going in there all alone?" Daniel asked in incredulity

"I am Klorel's loyal servant," Bra'tac said to him with a slight smirk.

"How will we know when it's time to come in and back you up?" Xander asked.

"It will be obvious. Teal'c, kalach shal tek!"

Despite his impressive grasp of the language, there were some Goa'uld phrases which Jackson still didn't understand. "What does that mean?" Daniel asked as Bra'tac entered the bridge.

"Victory or death," Teal'c replied unemotionally.

A few seconds later, a loud and angry Goa'uld voice could be heard from the interior of the room. Daniel stayed outside to cover the rear as the rest of the good guys rushed inside, firing as they went. They managed to save Bra'tac from Klorel's hand device, and the ensuing firefight saw the enemy Jaffa get hit and go down before Klorel and Hathor were finally captured.

"Tal kek!" Klorel cursed, promising to kill his enemies one day as Teal'c held his host tightly around the throat.

"You will pay a hundred-fold for your crime of daring to lay hands upon us!" Hathor likewise promised Xander.

"You tortured me for nearly a week. Be silent or I will kill you – just like you and Klorel killed Amaunet," Lantesh promised her darkly, he was in no mood to tolerate the Goa'uld queen's god complex as Bra'tac began to adjust the ship's course.

"What of the host – the wife of DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked in concern, before the look on Xander's face answered his question.

"AGGH!" Daniel screamed out in pain just outside the bridge, his MP-5 weapon spraying bullets wildly during another firefight against the incoming Jaffa.

Xander and Teal'c ran outside at once after handing over their prisoners to Bra'tac's disciples, only to find Daniel bleeding and dying from a direct hit to the chest with a staff weapon.

"He is badly hurt. If I had a Tok'ra healing device, perhaps I could save him..." Lantesh began to say, examining Daniel's wounds.

"But you don't," Jackson whispered, as Teal'c opened fire on another Jaffa that showed up and killed him. "I'm dead anyway when this ship blows up and it hits the other one. Both of you, get out of here!"

"No, wait. Hathor's sarcophagus, I know where it is! Afterwards, we can use the Stargate to get outta here!" Xander said urgently.

Teal'c knew there was no other logical choice other than leaving Daniel here to die. He and his fellow Jaffa still had to transport over to Apophis' ship, disable the shields and sublight engines, and then – maybe – escape the upcoming inferno via the Death Gliders. "Very well. Go!"

Xander hoisted Daniel up and carried him away, the older man's blood leaking out onto the floor as he did so. After Harris had placed Jackson inside the healing device, the former Slayerette waited desperately for the Goa'uld machine to work its magic, knowing that time was most definitely running out.

Just as Xander and Lantesh were about to regretfully abandon Daniel, the sarcophagus opened up and Harris practically yanked Jackson bodily out of there. "Let's go!"

The two men ran for the Ha'tak ship's Gate room. When they got there, Daniel checked the timer on one of the C4 explosives placed in the area. "One minute, fifteen seconds! I'm going to dial the Alpha site-"

"No, wait! There is something Xander and I need to show you. So please, make it Abydos instead-" Lantesh started to say, before the whine of a zat'nik'tel weapon was heard and Xander's body collapsed unconscious to the floor, face-first.

"Indeed. That world suits us, for the moment," Hathor's alien voice echoed in the Gate room as she smirked at Daniel. The female Goa'uld had managed to escape from the rebel Jaffa by distracting them when they'd reached the transport rings – stabbing Skaara/Klorel with a hidden blade, and then running off. "We have greatly missed you, beloved."

"You..." Daniel choked out, even though he had no idea what he wanted to say next. Last year this woman – this Goa'uld – had bewitched him, and seduced him into cheating on his wife. Which, for the sake of his sanity, was something that Daniel had tried not to think about too often.

"We know of the crude explosives placed throughout this vessel; therefore, we suggest you hurry, beloved," Hathor's smirk grew larger. "Or else you and the Tok'ra shall both die here together."

Knowing that time was almost up, and there was nothing he could say that would sway her actions otherwise, Daniel reluctantly dialed the alien world he had called home for a year.

After Hathor had escorted Daniel through the wormhole, Xander/Lantesh woke up; and just as the timer on the C4 explosives reached zero, the Tok'ra operative hurled himself through the Stargate, scant instants before the entire ship exploded.

**

* * *

**

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado**

**A few moments later**

Walter Harriman listened to the message coming in through his headset. He turned excitedly to General Hammond and said, "Sir, sir! We've got reports coming in from all over the country! A huge fireball in the night sky – NASA confirms, both Goa'uld ships are no longer there!"

The entire control room exploded into spontaneous cheers and celebrations, as Hammond went to get more details from his non-com and Willow grabbed Giles into a big hug.

"We've gotta work with these people more often," Miss Rosenberg said with a huge smile on her face.

**

* * *

**

**The planet Abydos, approximately two hundred and seventy light-years from Earth**

**A few moments previously**

Xander and Lantesh had no way to know that Apophis had killed his son AGAIN after Teal'c and Bra'tac had blasted their way through his ship and destroyed the shield generators, and that the System Lord had then safely departed via the transport rings.

Neither did they know that the Death Gliders containing Teal'c, Bra'tac and the other two Jaffa had been badly damaged when the two Ha'tak craft had exploded, and the quartet were now drifting downwards out of orbit, waiting to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

What they did know was that Hathor was pointing her weapon at them and saying, "You truly try our patience, Tok'ra filth. Now DIE!" Then, as Hathor opened fire, Daniel shoved her aim astray and Xander/Lantesh dived off to the side.

"You have disappointed us for the last time, beloved!" Hathor snapped out, as she activated her hand device and the yellow-orange light hit Daniel's forehead.

Suddenly, Hathor screamed in agony! She clutched the bloody stump as the shredded remains of her host's hand sailed off and landed on the ground. Daniel saw Xander, or maybe it was Lantesh, lower the smoking MP-5, whose bullets had blasted the hand device – and the hand attached to it – apart. Hathor subsequently kept on screaming, the Goa'uld queen was totally unused to this sort of pain.

"Dr. Jackson, are you all right?" Xander called out, keeping Hathor covered at all times as she began to bandage the wound.

"Yeah. Yeah, I-I think I'm actually starting to get used to that," Daniel muttered painfully, rubbing his forehead.

Just then, a contingent of Tok'ra showed up in the Abydonian Gate room. Having been briefed by the newly-arrived Khorem and his partner, they had arrived just in time to witness Hathor finally stop screaming, and so the alien rebels quickly took aim at her.

"What's going on here – oh my God, YOU'RE BACK!" Cordelia and Jolinar screamed in delight, as they grabbed their mate and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

"Uh, wait – what's going on? Where is everybody, where's Kasuf?" Daniel asked in confusion, as he looked around in search of his father-in-law.

There was no sign of any native presence as there had been the last time he'd been in this room, and Daniel suddenly began to get the creeping horrors with regard to the implications of that. ( _No, no, no..._ )

"Oh, God – I'm sorry, Dr. Jackson," Xander said, still holding Cordelia in his arms as he turned to face Daniel. "I, I tried to tell you before – everyone on this planet was killed a few weeks back. Hathor, Klorel and Amaunet set their Jaffa loose on everyone around here – and I'm pretty sure Hathor was the one who killed Amaunet afterwards. And by extension, your wife."

Daniel's eyes went wide, then he picked up the zat'nik'tel weapon Hathor had dropped. He pointed it at the female Goa'uld and demanded, "Is that true?"

"We could spend the rest of eternity together, beloved. Do you not remember the pleasure that we once shared in our bedchambers?" Hathor did not want to sound like she was pleading for her life, but under the current circumstances...

"DID YOU KILL SHA'RE?!" Daniel screamed, almost totally losing it.

"Yes," Hathor finally admitted it.

"Right. Any last words?" Daniel hissed out, the rage having swallowed him whole. His arm was shaking as he pointed the zat weapon at Hathor.

"The Tok'ra and the Tau'ri will wither and die before the onslaught of the Goa'uld System Lords, and your world will be torn asunder once the inevitable wrath of the gods takes place," Hathor said to Daniel contemptuously, having figured out she was done for now.

"As one queen to another – that's what you think!!" Jolinar said, taking Cordelia's suggestion for the choice of wording and enjoying the priceless look of disbelief on Hathor's face.

Just before Daniel opened fire three times, and the female's body disintegrated into nothingness.

At long last Hathor was dead and gone, just like Klorel – even if Apophis was still out there somewhere.

To Be Concluded...


	10. The Present And The Future

See Chapter One for disclaimer and details. Hey, everyone, welcome to the last chapter of the story! First off, we'd just like to say how we're extremely grateful to all of you who have stayed with us throughout these past few weeks. Thank you for reading and taking the time to review or send feedback, we really do want to thank each and every one of you for it; Bobboky, Quathis, Wonderbee31, RobC, gaul1, DanielHimura, Mike Yarwood, UnseenTraveler, cursedgirl and anyone else we've missed. And we'd also like to once again thank our beta readers Greywizard, Mr. Mysterious and Memory King for all their work on this fanfic; you guys went above and beyond, thank you! Okay, now, farewell and here it is – the final chapter of 'Time For Change'!

* * *

**Chapter Ten: The Present And The Future**

**The planet eventually known as P3X-888, many thousands of light-years from Earth**

**February 22nd, 1998**

Apophis cursed as he stared around at the original primitive homeworld of the Goa'uld after exiting the Stargate, a temporary way-station he had come to after barely escaping from his doomed Ha'tak vessel in time.

The System Lord knew that even though he had survived, the damage from the recent fiasco at the Tau'ri homeworld was almost incalculable. The balance of power had dramatically shifted now, Apophis felt certain that his enemies – such as Cronus, and the son of Ra named Heru'ur – would soon take advantage of his depleted forces to wage war against him. Even the Goa'uld known as Sokar and Ba'al might feel bold enough to challenge him.

Any or all of them might unite to enter into battle against his armies, and with his standing amongst the System Lords weakened by failing to exterminate the Tau'ri as promised – Apophis estimated that he might have as little as a year left to live.

Apophis also knew that he could not return to his throne world Chulak, at least not yet – the betrayal perpetrated by Bra'tac and his Jaffa was so heinous to the male Goa'uld that he could not trust any of his worshippers there any longer. The words of the shol'va Teal'c also refused to leave Apophis's mind:

"This will be a day long remembered on Chulak – the day that the false god Apophis learned that his son helped kill his own mother, and that he was also made to look like a fool by Klorel and Hathor."

Dampening down his rage Apophis looked around one more time, before deciding on where to go next. But as he entered the Gate co-ordinates for the planet PX9-757, one of the many worlds he ruled, Apophis had an idea.

( _Teal'c has a son, as I recall. One who would have received his first prim'ta by now – yes, yes, his name is Rya'c. He will be the perfect instrument for his traitorous father to one day know the full wrath of his god. Not to mention, destroy the Tau'ri from within..._ )

* * *

**Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado**

**February 23rd, 1998**

"I WANT THAT LITTTLE RED-HAIRED WITCH LOCKED UP IMMEDIATELY!" Senator Kinsey's voice thundered inside General Hammond's private office.

"Really, Senator? What for?" the Air Force general asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"What for?! You know perfectly well what she did to me yesterday! She, she..." Kinsey suddenly trailed off, not wanting to finish off that sentence.

"She what, Senator? Were you going to say that Miss Rosenberg temporarily turned you into a cat?" Hammond asked mildly, as if they were just discussing the weather or something. "If I were you, I'd be careful saying things like that outside this office, sir. All sorts of consequences could result. Not the least of which could be irreparable harm to your chances for re-election this year."

"Is that a threat?" Kinsey straightened up and glared at the bald Texan.

"Not at all, Senator," Hammond said smoothly as he leaned forward. "However, I'm sure the President feels that it would be in this nation's best interests if you were to refrain from rocking the boat over this particular issue. Not only are your actions in attempting to shut down this command precisely when it was needed the most a matter of record, I'm afraid I have little to no influence over the activities of either Miss Rosenberg or the Watchers Council."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kinsey demanded arrogantly.

"Senator, despite her accomplishments Willow Danielle Rosenberg is only barely beyond what's classified as a novice in her craft. And from what I've heard from Mr. Giles, that particular organization in England has practitioners that can turn people into rats or flies just as easily as cats," Hammond said as Kinsey suddenly went pale. "I trust I don't have to explain the significance of these things to you?"

"I promise, you will only live to regret this!" Kinsey blustered, before slamming the door on his way back to Washington.

( _Good riddance,_ ) Hammond thought to himself, leaning back. ( _Even though I'm sure it'll only be temporary at best._ )

The phone buzzed, and Hammond picked it up. "Yes?"

#It's time, General,# Walter Harriman's voice came over the line.

"I'll be right there," Hammond nodded and then he replaced the receiver, got up and made his way to the Gate room. There before the gathered crowd he welcomed Teal'c, Bra'tac and the other two Jaffa to the facility and thanked them for everything they had done, before their Death Gliders had been rescued by the space shuttle _Endeavour_.

"Master Bra'tac, words alone simply cannot express the depth of our gratitude. But on behalf of all the citizens of the planet Earth, I'd like to thank you and everyone else for saving our planet from the Goa'uld," Hammond said formally.

"You are Hammond of Texas?" Bra'tac asked, eyeing the two-star general.

"I am," George replied.

"Then I regret to inform you that the one called Daniel Jackson did not return along with the rest of us," Bra'tac said, leaving out any reference to Xander and Lantesh.

"Actually, I got back here from Abydos not long before you did," Daniel spoke up as he walked out from amongst the back of the crowd.

The free Jaffa were surprised to see Jackson as part of the welcoming committee, and launched into a series of questions before eventually departing to Chulak to keep on fighting the good fight. Teal'c decided to stay behind, however; for the moment his place was here, and he could tell that despite the brave front for public show Daniel was still shattered over the loss of Sha're. Carter and O'Neill could also tell that, the moment they arrived on the scene as well.

Eventually, Sam and Jack slipped away from their team-mates for a little privacy. O'Neill looked rather hesitant as he asked, "You okay after what that vampire did to you, Carter?"

"Yes, sir," Sam replied, flexing her jaw a little. "How about yourself?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy," Jack rotated his neck stiffly. "I swear, though, Janet's eyes sort of just lit right up after we got back from P3X-984. Must have had those extra-thick needles of hers out in record time, once we got to the infirmary for the mandatory once-over!"

"I really kinda doubt that, sir," Sam had a small grin on her face, making a mental note to remember to tell her friend how much the commander of SG-1 disliked getting jabbed by sharp, pointy things.

"Well, anyway, now that that other vampire on the base has been eliminated, hopefully we can get back to business as usual around here," Jack said, scratching the hair at the back of his neck.

"Meaning the official ceremony marking the start of the alliance between ourselves and the Tok'ra, Colonel?" Sam asked with a bit too much innocence.

"Yeah. Remind me to go fishing at my cabin in Minnesota afterwards," Jack briefly grimaced. "For that matter, Carter, you should come too. It'll be great, just the two of us!"

"Just the two of us, sir?" Sam suddenly had a strange feeling in her chest, as she was reminded of Daniel's story of how she and Jack had been engaged to be married in another universe; and the USAF captain also hadn't forgotten how she had literally thrown herself at O'Neill whilst under the influence of the Touched virus. ( _Is he trying to give me a subtle hint here?_ )

"Sure, Carter! You and me sitting on the dock with our feet perched up, sipping a cold one and casting about for those ever-elusive fish in my pond. It'll be sweet!" Jack suddenly got a wide grin on his face. "We should invite Teal'c and Daniel as well, come to think of it. Maybe even Mr. Giles, Miss Summers, Miss Rosenberg, Miss Chase and Harris too, while we're at it. The more the merrier!"

"Yes, sir. The more the merrier, right. Uh, excuse me sir, I – need to talk to Janet about something," Sam felt her cheeks flush as she walked away, silently berating herself for ever thinking that her commanding officer might be willing to violate the Air Force's non-fraternization rules.

( _Hmm. I hope Sam doesn't forget to pack that cute little green tank top number of hers for the trip,_ ) Jack thought to himself with an even bigger grin. He too remembered the Touched virus incident, and Jackson's description of that alternate reality, as he followed his second-in-command back to the Gate room.

After all, what was life without a healthy dose of sweet temptation in it?

* * *

**Tok'ra Tel'tak vessel, in geosynchronous orbit over the United States **

**A few moments later**

Whilst down below the men and the women of the SGC were still celebrating the big victory against the enemy, Xander/Lantesh and Cordelia/Jolinar were orbiting the Earth in their cloaked cargo ship. They were not alone, however; Willow, Buffy and Giles were also present.

"It's beautiful," Buffy said, examining the fragile-looking blue-white planet below. "Thanks for letting us see it, y'know, after bringing Dr. Jackson home."

"You're welcome, Buff," Xander nodded. He knew that the blonde Slayer was still an emotional wreck after killing Angelus, and he'd figured something like this might help cheer her up a bit. So far, it appeared to be working.

"Really gives you a sense of perspective up here, seeing what you're constantly fighting to save." Buffy turned to face her friend. "And you saved the world yesterday – Giles and Willow are saying you're a hero..."

"Lantesh and I just helped Dr. Jackson and the others stop the Goa'uld," Xander said modestly. "After the way you had to face down Dea – uh, Angel, you're still the real hero in my book."

Buffy instantly gave him a huge hug, her eyes wet and glistening.

"God, I've missed you," she said sincerely, before letting go and gesturing over to where her best friend was talking with Giles and Cordelia. "So has Willow!"

"I know, we managed to get a few things straightened out lately. I've missed you guys too," Xander told her. "But things are different now than how they were last year, Buffy. I don't belong in Sunnydale anymore. Neither does Cordelia."

"Yeah, I've heard about that part of it. I guess she really has become Queen C now, huh?" Miss Summers made a weak joke. "And you're what, the Tok'ra king?"

"Hardly," Lantesh answered her. "That's too close to what a Goa'uld would call himself for my liking, and Xander refuses to be considered any sort of royal consort, either."

"I'm just a guy who's planning to love, honour and cherish Cordelia from this point onwards, no matter what," Xander told Buffy. "And yeah, Slay-gal, I did choose those words for a reason."

( _Thought as much. Well, I guess Willow's right, Cordelia's rough edges have been smoothed away a lot; maybe she actually does deserve him these days_, ) the Slayer reflected.

"So, let me tell you about Oz..." Buffy started to talk about the short monosyllabic werewolf in order to distract herself about Angel, and the fact that she needed to put her lost love behind her from now on.

Not far away, Willow was saying to Cordelia, "Oh, I am so totally into the magic thing now! Watch this..." Miss Rosenberg slowly lifted herself off the floor.

"Willow, please come down from there at once!" Giles lectured her. "Telekinesis can be a, a very dangerous thing to play around with!"

"Myself, I gotta agree."

Willow crashed to the floor as everyone else whirled around to see Whistler standing there. "What the HELL are you doing here?!" Cordelia and Jolinar both shouted, immediately pissed off at the new arrival.

"I'm just here to deliver a message and give you some advice, that's all. So don't start PMS-ing on me like that, Queenie," Whistler told her in annoyance.

"Who is this guy?" Buffy demanded, the new arrival giving her Slayersense a weird vibe as Willow got up off the floor.

"His name is Whistler," Cordelia replied, still angry over how this person hadn't helped her boyfriend escape the Goa'uld when he could have. "And apparently, he's a demon of some sort!"

"Non-violent variety," Whistler said hastily, seeing Buffy automatically reach for the stake in the back of her pants. "Messenger boy, basically."

"So what's the message?" Xander asked him, giving the demon who'd so casually sacrificed him to Hathor a narrow-eyed glare.

"That buddy of yours, Dr. Jackson? His wife's gone now, so that book geek is planning to quit his current job – find the remotest dig he can, and just piss away the rest of his life. Y'know, looking at rocks and other worthless crap. But if Danny-boy does that, then eventually, the Earth is doomed," Whistler said gravely. "You gotta make him keep going as part of the team, bottom line."

"I'll talk to him," Giles promised straightaway.

"I am curious. Why choose us for that task, and not SG-1?" Lantesh wanted to know.

"Because you know exactly how much of a threat Apophis is. Not to mention that Anubis guy as well," Whistler shrugged.

"ANUBIS?!" Lantesh and Jolinar exclaimed in horror.

"Who's Anubis?" Buffy wanted to know.

"From what I've heard, a-a Goa'uld who committed crimes that were unspeakable even by their standards, before disappearing a thousand years ago," Giles told her, his hands shaking as he took off his glasses and started to polish them.

"Yeah, best guess? He isn't gonna be showing up for a few years yet. But when he does, the smart money's saying he's gonna go after the Tok'ra first and foremost, and exterminate you all. So here's the advice part; make good friends with those Stargate Command people, they're the only safe harbour you'll find," Whistler said to the two symbiotes.

He then turned to Willow and Buffy, "By the way, after you two graduate high school? Make sure you don't cut ties with the Air Force crowd. Trust me, their help will be needed."

"Against who?" Buffy wanted to know.

"Sorry, but you don't get all the answers up-front. Despite the big shake-up lately in the higher realms, that whole balance thing still applies, you know," Whistler shook his head. "So let's just say all of you are gonna be needed to help each other, especially once the kid sister shows up. Good luck!"

With that, Whistler just vanished.

"The kid sister?" Giles asked in confusion.

"I HATE it whenever people do the cryptic act," Buffy commented, unable to help recalling her first meeting with Angel and what that had led to.

Whilst everyone started talking amongst themselves, Xander walked over to the window to stare down at the Earth as his ship continued to fly around the world. Cordelia soon joined him, as the Tok'ra and their hosts gazed at the planet below.

The winds of fate continued to swirl around all four of them, but the storm clouds looming just over the horizon were not quite as threatening as they might have been under different circumstances.

The End...for now


End file.
